^1 


7  ^  A*  a 


FROM    WEST  TO    EAST 


/  e.tt'-rnfi    /efiiitim 


FROM 

WEST   TO    EAST 

NOTES    BY   THE   WAY 


BY  SIR  HUBERT  JERNINGHAM,  K.C.M.G. 

SOMETIME    GOVERNOR    OF    MAURITIUS,    OF    TRINIDAD    AND   TOBAGO 


WITH   MAPS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON   AND   COMPANY 

31  West  Twenty-third  Street 

1907 


Printed  in  Great  Britaiti 


TO 

HIS    EXCELLENCY 

COLONEL  SIR  CLAUDE  MAXWELL  MACDONALD 

G.C.M.G.,    K.C.B. 

HIS  majesty's  ambassador  extraordinary 

AND    plenipotentiary 
at   TOKYO 


PREFACE 

Quffi  causa  viae?  quove  tenetis  iter? — Virgil. 

Ich  leb  und  weiss  nicht  wie  lang  ; 

Ich  sterb  und  weiss  nicht  wann  ; 
Ich  fahr  und  weiss  nicht  wohin  : 
*  Mich  wundert  dass  ich  frolich  bin. 

Attributed  to  Maximilian  I. 

A  COUNTRY  that,  in  less  than  half  a  century,  has 
asserted  its  place  among  the  great  Powers  of  the 
world,  and  won  it  by  the  observance  of  the  finest 
and  manliest  qualities,  is  so  fascinating  a  study 
that  to  see  it  before  it  is  wholly  spoilt  by  success, 
as  it  might  well  be  in  the  next  generation,  was 
the  ** causa  vise"  of  my  journey  to  the  East, 
viz.  to  Japan;  when  the  final  *Mter"  took  the 
direction  of  the  battlefields  of  Manchuria  and 
especially  Port  Arthur,  where  the  glory  of  Japan 
was  so  lately  sealed  in  the  reckless  shedding  of 
their  blood  by  its  children,  in  the  great  cause  of 
national  independence  threatened  by  Russia. 

Thanks  to  the  kind  efforts  on  our  behalf  of 
His  Majesty's  Ambassador  at  Tokyo,  Sir  Claude 
Macdonald,  the  Japanese  Government  not  only 
gave  me  and  a  nephew,  Mr.  Charles  Edmond- 
stoune  Cranstoun,  of  Corehouse,  as  well  as  the 


viii  PREFACE 

Earl  of  Leitrim,  who  accompanied  us,  permission 
to  visit  these  interesting  places,  but  provided 
for  our  transport  throughout,  and  enjoined  on 
the  naval  and  military  authorities  at  all  the  places 
we  visited  (all  of  which  are  still  within  the  sphere 
of  military  occupation)  to  exert  themselves  in 
showing  us  all  the  hospitality  in  their  power, 
which  they  did.  Thus  if,  in  the  words  of  Maxi- 
milian I,  I  had  doubts  at  the  start  upon  most 
things  which  he  mentions,  at  least  I  no  longer 
'* wonder"  at  being  rejoiced  to  have  completed 
a  journey  which  necessarily  suggests  so  many 
thoughts  and  considerations  of  import  on  the 
spot  as  well  as  on  the  way  ;  and  I  am  induced  to 
offer  some  of  these  to  the  public,  in  the  hope 
that,  while  contributing  ever  so  slightly  to  their 
interest  in  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  land 
of  the  Rising  Sun,  I  may  also  give  myself  the 
pleasure  of  renewing  a  delightful  excursion  in 
the,  however  inadequate,  effort  to  describe  it. 

Du  besoin  du  passe  notre  ame  est  poursuivie 
Et  sur  les  pas  du  temps  elle  aime  k  revenir 
II  faut  aux  jours  presents  de  la  plus  belle  vie 
L'esperance  et  le  souvenir. — Lamartine. 


FACE 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

Paris:  Dearness  of  life — Marseilles:  "Pacte  de  Mar- 
seilles " — Port  Said  :  Strikes — Suez  :  Old  and  new 
canal — Aden  :  Sun  worship   .  ... 


CHAPTER   H 

Bombay:  Customs — Parsees^DELHi:  Heroism — Agra: 
Moguls — Benares:  Hindoo  degradation  and  Super- 
stition— Calcutta:  Suggestions  —  Ceylon:  Pride, 
pluck,  and  beauty  .  .  ...       20 

CHAPTER    HI 

Penang  :  Value  of  British  administration — Singapore  : 
Chinese  processions — Hong-Kong  :  British  Empire 
— Canton  :  Yellow  Peril        .  .  .         .       50 

CHAPTER   IV 
Shintoism — Buddhism — Missionary  Fields  .         .       67 

CHAPTER   V 

Nagasaki:  Arrival — Kobe:  Progress — Osaka:  Wealth 
— Kyoto  :  Old  Japan — Nara  :  Bronzes — Nagoya  : 
Wrestling — Yokohama  :  Art  .  •         •       83 

CHAPTER   VI 
Tokyo:  Renins — Tokyo:  Education — Nikko:  Temples     126 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   VII 


nAGE 


Kobe:  Japanese  coloured  prints  —  Hara-kiri  —  Inland 
Sea  :  Japanese  love  of  children  —  Shimonoseki  : 
Temper  of  Europe  chang-ed — Sea  of  Japan  :  Naval 
battle — Dalny  :  Present  state  .  .         -150 

CHAPTER   VIII 

Entrance  to  Port  Arthur — Port  Arthur  and  203 

Metre  Hill — Siege  of  Port  Arthur  .         .     172 

CHAPTER    IX 

Mukden  :   Its  battlefields  —  Mukden  :  Chinese  matters 

— Yalu  :  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  .  .         .     203 

CHAPTER   X 
Piniang — Saoul — Fusan — Korea  .  .         .     240 

CHAPTER   XI 

Tovo-ura  :  Sanyo  railway — Yamajushi  :  Christian 
centre — Myajima:  Sacred  place — Fukuyama:  Rushes 
— Okayama:  Japanese  g-arden — Atsuta:  Tokaido — 
Maisaka  :  Lagoon — Mio-no-Matsubara  :  Feather 
robe — FuGi  San  :  Volcanic  mount — Tokyo  :  Cherry 
blossom  party — Yokohama  :  Japanese  woman          .     259 

CHAPTER    XII 

Pacific  Ocean — Honolulu — San  Francisco — 

Chicago — Niagara — New  York  .  .         .     288 

APPENDIX 
I.    Admiral  Togo's  Report  of  the  Battle  of  the 

Sea  of  Japan  .  .  .         •     3^5 

II,    Treaty  of  Peace  of  Portsmouth  .  .         .     333 

III.    The  Garter  Mission         .  ...     342 

Index  .  .  .  ...     343 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 


"  L'Eternel  Feminin  "  (Photogravure) 

Cashmere  Gate,  Delhi 

Taj  Mahal,  Agra  and  River  Jumna 

Bridge  at  Kyoto 

Chion  in  Temple,  Kyoto 

Pagoda,  Nara 

The  Lantern  Walk,  Kasuga  no  Miza  Nara 

Dai  Butsu,  Nara 

Dai  Butsu,  Kamakura    . 

Dai  Butsu  and  Plum  Blossom,  Kamakura 

Jinrickisha,  Yokohama 

Port  Arthur  from  Golden  Hill 

New  Town,  Port  Arthur 

Arisaka  Guns  on  203  Metre  Hill 

East  Keikwan  .... 

Ehrlungshan    .... 

Two  Naval  Guns  on  Wontai 

Wire  Entanglements  on  Ehrlungshan  . 

Street  in  Mukden 

North  Tomb  of  Manchu  Sovereigns,  Mukden 

Outside  the  Walls,  Mukden 

Entrance  Gate,  Mukden 

Fuji  San  .... 

Pali      ..... 

Niagara  .... 

MAPS 

The  Advance  of  the  Japanese  after  Nanshan  and 
Port  Arthur  .... 

Port  Arthur  and  its  Defences 


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INTRODUCTORY 

The  information  which  these  pages  contain  is 
mostly  derived  from  sources  at  the  command  of 
every  person  who  reads  and  learns,  though  the 
manner  of  conveying  it  may  not  be  according  to 
stereotyped  methods  ;  and  I  desire  to  express 
my  acknowledgments  to  the  gentlemen  (especi- 
ally to  Mr.  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain)  to  whose 
works  on  the  East  I  am  so  indebted,  and  which 
perhaps  I  have  somewhat  too  often  quoted  in 
these  notes  of  travel. 

I  have  purposely  taken  them  as  guides, 
wishing  to  steer  clear  of  too  hasty  appreciations 
such  as  might  savour  of  faith- pinning  in  first 
impressions.  I  am  convinced  that  no  foreigner, 
except  perhaps  the  late  Lafcadio  Hearn,  a  poet 
rather  than  a  historian,  as  yet  has  truly  under- 
stood the  secretive  nature  of  the  Japanese,  or 
been  treated  by  them  as  one  of  themselves,  and 
I  feel  it  would  be  presumptuous  to  attempt  more 
than  an  analysis  of  the  sources  from  which  their 
great  merits  spring ;  while  any  study  of  the 
people  in  their  own  land  must  necessarily  convey 
some  notion  of  the  changes  likely  to  arise  from 
their  having  broken  with  the  teaching  of  the  past 
and  courted  Western  modes  of  thought. 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST 


CHAPTER   I 


Paris 

Dearness  of  life. 

Marseilles 

.      ' '  Facte  de  Marseilles. ' ' 

Port  Said 

.     Strikes. 

Suez 

Old  and  new  canal. 

Aden 

Sun  worship. 

Paris,  5  December,  1905. 

AN  old  Palais  Royal  tune  and  its  silly  words 
.  invariably  come  back  to  me  whenever  I  re- 
visit Paris;  and,  though  I  am  not  a  '* Brazilian" 
and  possess  ''no  gold,"  I  find  myself  humming 

lustily  Je  suis  Br^silien  :  j'ai  de  I'or 

Paris  !  je  te  revois  **  encor  " 

out  of  sheer  contentment. 

Of  Paris,  as  of  love,  one  can  truly  say  it  is 
ever  old  and  ever  new.  It  is  full  of  reminiscences 
and  crammed  with  possibilities.  It  has  sad  and 
bitter  notes  in  a  symphony  of  joy  and  sweetness. 
Memories  of  bygone  friends  ;  old  sensations  and 
delights  which  have  nestled  for  years  in  the 
heart's  recesses  seem  to  quicken  into  fresh  life  at 
the  sight  of  old  streets,   familiar  buildings,   and 

6 


2  PARIS 

the   not   always  pleasantly-scented   "  Odeurs  de 

aris. 

But  the  quickening  process  is  but  momentary  ; 
for  new  Paris  soon  scares  these  memories  away 
to  make  room  for  novel  feelings,  for  new  sensa- 
tions, for  fresh  experiences,  which  combine  to 
proclaim  only  one  single  fact,  that  Paris  is 
changed;  that  we,  old  **  Bouldevardiers,"  are 
unsuited  to  the  change  ;  and  that,  in  a  word, 
Paris  is  no  longer  the  Paris  of  the  French,  but 
capital  of  foreigners. 

The  Boulevards  look  old,  dirty,  neglected,  out  of 
fashion,  discontented,  in  a  word,  '*demodes."  The 
crowds  that  throng  their  length  and  breadth  are 
no  longer  old  Parisian  crowds  of  ''bons  vauriens" 
and  **insouciants  flaneurs."  They  are  crowds 
thirsting  for  gold,  and — Brazilians  ;  a  mongrel 
crowd,  without  a  particle  of  wit  or  humour  or  joy, 
or  even  naturalness  ;  a  crowd  that  knows  nothing 
of  Balzac  or  Eugene  Sue,  and  has  dismissed  to 
*'la  Banlieue"  the  neat  merry  grisettes  of  Alphonse 
Karr,  with  their  out-at-elbow  unwashed  swains  ; 
the  noisy  clever  "gamins  de  Paris"  and  all  that 
"franche  gaiete  "  which  constituted  the  sunshine 
and  attraction  of  former  days. 

*'  La  banlieue  !  "  It  means  that  outer  Paris  of 
which  the  foreigners  know  so  little,  but  where 
the  working  classes  and  the  humble  middle  classes 
can  still  struggle  for  existence  under  vexatious 
taxation,  while  they  preserve  the  illusion  that 
they  are  not  provincial. 


TAX   ON   CLUB   SUBSCRIPTIONS  3 

The  Paris  of  to-day  is  grouped  round  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe,  which  is  as  it  should  be,  for  it  is 
the  healthiest  site  in  the  great  city  ;  and  within 
its  radius,  which  has  absorbed  many  historic 
country  villas,  are  magnificent  buildings  which 
rear  their  lofty  stories  with  commendable  pride, 
as  they  are  the  homes  of  those  moneyed  aristocrats 
of  many  climes,  who,  under  French  taste,  re- 
plenish French  pockets  ;  but  this  Paris  is  not  the 
old  Paris,  nor  are  its  people  the  old  Parisians. 
The  ''petites  bourses  "  have  made  room  for  *Mes 
grandes  bourses,"  and  out  of  gratitude  to  the 
foreigner  Paris  has  relinquished  its  title  of  '^ville 
Lumiere  "  for  that  of  "Centre  Cosmopolite." 

The  very  act  of  living  is  not  becoming,  but 
has  become,  a  serious  problem,  not  alone  for  the 
poor,  but  also  for  the  comparatively  well-to-do, 
and  is  an  unspoken  factor  in  the  apparent  want 
of  interest  taken  by  the  bulk  of  the  people  in 
the  doings  of  governments  not  to  their  liking. 

The  exactions  of  imposts  are  such  that  incomes 
which  only  a  few  years  since  were  sufficient  for 
all  needs  in  a  family  of  five  members  barely 
suffice  for  one  or  two  now  ;  and  the  birth-rate  is 
on  the  decrease. 

I  will  mention  an  instance  which  will  surprise 
club  men  at  home.  Wanting  to  pay  my  sub- 
scription of  400  francs  to  a  club,  I  was  told  I 
must  pay  550,  because  the  State  and  the  muni- 
cipality each  collect  not  only  8  per  cent  of  the 
letting  value  of  the  club  premises,    but   20  per 


4  PARIS 

cent  of  the  amount  of  the  yearly  subscription 
of  every  member,  and,  added  my  informant,  ''si 
encore  nous  en  restions  la  !  but,  alas  !  at  the  rate 
we  are  proceeding  it  is  to  be  feared  that  we  shall 
be  taxed  even  more  "  !  It  may  be  that,  in  time, 
thanks  to  governments  and  county  councils, 
club  life  will  become  too  expensive  a  luxury  in 
England  also. 

Comment,  however,  is  neither  needed  nor 
necessary  ;  but  can  it  be  surprising  if,  through- 
out every  class  in  the  social  scale  in  France,  dis- 
content in  every  shape  is  rampant,  whether  with 
those  who  are  well-to-do  or  among  the  people 
themselves  ;  and  if  it  becomes  patent  to  those 
who  know  France  that,  in  a  possibly  nearer 
future  than  one  thinks,  that  discontent  may  give 
rise,  notwithstanding  decided  efforts  to  improve 
the  new  conditions  of  living  by  cheap  railway 
fares  and  the  easier  acquisition  of  house  property 
outside  Paris,  to  repetitions  of  deplorable  his- 
torical events?  I  sincerely  hope  not.  The 
common  sense  of  France  must  conquer  in  the 
long  run,  as  it  has  done  so  often  before  ;  but  it  is 
not  reassuring  to  the  ordinary  mind  to  be  told 
by  one  leader  of  public  opinion  that  "  collectivist 
socialism  "  is  the  supreme  remedy  to  all  ills  and 
by  another  that  "individualist  democracy"  is  the 
only  salvation.  These  words,  defining  a  policy, 
may,  like  the  blessed  word  Mesopotamia,  be 
supremely  comforting  to  some  ;  but,  unless  col- 
lectivist   socialism  means  plundering  foreigners 


JAURES   AND   CLEMENCEAU  5 

only  for  the  benefit  of  Parisians,  I  doubt  whether 
Parisians  will  like  it  when  they  realize  that  it 
means  nothing  short  of  depriving  the  industrious 
among  themselves  of  their  savings  in  order  to 
benefit  the  idle.  Nor  is  it  pleasant  for  honest 
Frenchmen,  even  if  they  have  to  laugh  at  the 
conceit,  to  know  that  M.  Jaures  backs  his  system 
by  the  preliminary  statement  that  *'il  n'y  a  pas 
de  verite  sacree, "  and  that  M.  Clemenceau,  with- 
out any  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  stoops  in  his 
cleverness  to  inform  the  world  that  Satan  is  his 
noble  father,  *Me  grand  dechu,  mon  noble 
pere. 

Even  Marat,  who  could  properly  be  styled 
Hell's  own,  did  involuntary  homage  to  sacred 
truth  and  to  Christ. 

*'L'Histoire  des  Girondins  "  recalls  the  pecu- 
liarity of  this  monster  in  always  having  the  New 
Testament  open  on  his  writing-table,  and  re- 
verently bowing  his  head  at  the  name  of  Jesus. 

" '  La  revolution, '  disait  il,  '  a  ceux  qui  s'en  eton- 
naient,  est  toute  entiere  dans  I'Evangile.  Nulle 
part  la  cause  du  peuple  n'a  6te  plus  energique- 
ment  plaidee ;  et  Jesus  Christ,'  repetait  il  souvent, 
en  s'inclinant  avec  respect  a  ce  nom  ;  'Jesus 
Christ  est  notre  maitre  a  tous.'  " 


*  Since  writing  the  above  a  great  oratorical  duel  has  taken  place 
between  these  two  politicians,  at  the  end  of  which  the  reassuring  remark 
was  made  by  M.  Clemenceau,  the  individualist,  to  M,  Jaures:  "Vous 
n'etes  pas  le  Bon  Dieu,"  to  which  M.  Jauris,  the  collectivist,  replied  in 
equally  reassuring  tones,  "  Et  vous,  vous  n'etes  meme  pas  le  diable." — 
See  "  Times,"  20  June,  1906. 


6  MARSEILLES 

But  as  I  said  before,  all  is  changed — **ou  sont 
les  neiges  d'antan  ?  " 

All  is  not  darkness,  however  :  there  are  signs 
even  of  a  very  wholesome  revival  of  faith.  If 
their  fathers  are  listless  and  supine  in  combating 
irreligion,  the  young  are  not ;  and  close  on  one 
hundred  thousand  young  Frenchmen  at  this  very 
time  are  vigorously  engaged  in  the  noble  task  of 
saving  their  country  from  the  disintegrating 
effects  of  such  irreligion. 

**Le  Sillon,"  which  means  a  furrow,  is  tracing 
for  the  proletariat  the  line  of  conduct  it  should 
adopt,  and  its  motto  is,  '*I1  faut  aller  au  vrai  de 
toute  son  ame."  Their  leader,  'M'ami  Marc,"  is 
almost  an  apostle  of  civilization  through  Christian 
teaching,  and  of  salvation  through  honest  re- 
ligious belief.  It  is  very  wonderful  to  note  what 
the  associations  of  young  men  in  every  part  of 
France  are  doing  or  have  already  achieved  ;  and 
in  their  generous  impulses  lie  the  hopes  of  a 
nation  that  does  not  care  for  politics,  but  is  very 
staunch,  notwithstanding  all  contrary  appear- 
ances, to  its  Catholic  teaching. 

Marseilles,  8  December,  1905. 

The  day  is  simply  ideal.  Marseilles  is  looking 
its  best  and  Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde,  from  her 
high  elevation,  seems  to  smile  graciously  on  her 
devotees  crowding  to  her  shrine  in  honour  of  the 
great  festivity  of    the  day.     As   is  well   known, 


NOTRE   DAME   DE   LA   GARDE  7 

Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde  is  the  tutelary  divinity 
of  Marseilles.  Few  sailors  on  their  departure 
for  foreign  lands  and  distant  seas  omit  to  go  and 
invoke  her  intercession  ;  fewer  still  are  there 
who,  after  the  perils  of  the  ocean  are  happily 
surmounted,  do  not  make  a  pilgrimage  to  her 
statue  and  deposit  some  small  grateful  tribute 
for  their  preservation. 

It  is  the  one  poetical  spot  in  a  very  garlic- 
scented  town  ;  a  very  beautiful  chapel  situated 
on  an  eminence  which  commands  a  splendid 
prospect ;  and  the  secret  repository  of  many 
heartaches  and  heart  rejoicings. 

All  present  life  is  but  an  interjection, 
An  **  oh  !  "  or  *'  ah  !  "  of  joy  or  misery. 

From  its  portal,  the  eye  rests  on  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean  or  that  part  of  it 
which  takes  the  name — nobody  knows  exactly 
why — of  Golfe  de  Lion,^  unless  it  be  that  the 
mistral  which  blows  for  fully  150  days  out  of 
365  in  the  year  is  the  lion  which  commands  the 
gulf.  But  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the 
mistral  is  another  of  those  kind  dispensations  of 
Providence  obtained  through  Notre  Dame,  as 
it  ensures  sanitation  to  at  least  some  degree,  and 
Marseilles  is  so  built  that  any  help  from  the 
elements  within  the  radius  of  the  older  portions 
of  the  town  is  not  only  a  boon  but  a  blessing. 

^  In  Bouillet's  "  Dictionary  of  Geography"  I  find  the  following  :  "  II 
a  et^  ainsi  nomm^  dit  on  k  cause  de  I'agitation  de  ses  eaux  dont  on  com- 
parait  la  violence  a  celle  du  lion," 


8  MARSEILLES 

The  somewhat  exaggerated  beauties  of  the 
banks  of  la  Durance  do  not  make  up  for  its 
being  a  very  sluggish  stream  and  of  no  practical 
value  from  a  hygienic  point  of  view. 

Except  that  Marseilles  is  probably  the  oldest 
town  in  France — for  it  was  a  Greek  settlement  on 
the  ruins  of  an  earlier  Phoenician  one  —  it  has 
not  in  History  that  importance  which  one  would 
imagine  the  Emporium  of  the  East  might  have 
attained ;  nor  can  I  recollect,  apart  from  the 
"  Marseillaise  "  (which  was  neither  written  by  a 
Marseillais  nor  composed  in  the  south  of  France, 
but  at  Strasbourg  by  Rouget  de  Lisle),  any- 
thing historical  bearing  its  name  more  stirring 
than  the  *' Compact  of  Marseilles"  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  which  resulted  in  a  breach  be- 
tween Pope  Clement  VII  and  Henry  VIII,  and 
a  union  between  that  Pope  and  Francis  I.  The 
pledge  given  on  this  occasion  was  the  hand  of 
the  Pope's  niece,  Catherine  de  Medici,  to  Henry 
of  Orleans,  the  second  son  of  Francis  I,  after- 
wards Henry  II  of  France.  It  was  a  disappoint- 
ing diplomatic  instrument  from  which,  however, 
great  events  arose.  From  that  moment  Henry 
VIII  began  to  repudiate  his  Catherine  to  the 
detriment  of  Catholicism  in  England  ;  and  the 
Medici  Catherine  eventually  became  the  mother 
of  two  kings,  under  one  of  whom,  and  it  is  to 
be  feared  at  her  suggestion,  was  ordered  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  to  the  prejudice  of 
French  Protestants. 


S.S.    "PERSIA"  9 

The  day  was  so  fine  that  I  would  have  liked  to 
spend  it  altogether  in  this  rowdy  city,  where  the 
Southern  accent  lends  charm  to  Gascon  exaggera- 
tions, and  where  mirth  is  too  often  a  preliminary 
to  sanguinary  explosions ;  but  the  P.  and  O. 
steamer  **  Persia"  has  arrived,  and  passengers 
must  hurry  on  board. 

At  noon  we  depart,  and  I  discover  many  friends, 
who  have  never  travelled  at  all,  ready  to  give  me 
hints  as  to  doing  it  comfortably,  while  others  are 
anxious  to  impress  on  me  how  to  journey  profit- 
ably. 

R.  E.,  who  is  an  authority  on  agriculture,  tells 
me  that  nothing  interests  him  on  board  so  much 
as  a  row  of  ladies  asleep.  Is  he  thinking  of 
grasses?  In  a  minute  he  adds  that  sleep  con- 
ceals so  much  !     Has  he  turned  philosopher? 

**  How  much?"  I  ask  anxiously.  This  much 
he  replies  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  :  the  beautiful 
ones  silence  temptation,  and  the  ugly  ones  shut 
out  criticism !  There  is  no  doubt  he  is  a  philoso- 
phizing agriculturist,  but  the  vessel  starts  in  bril- 
liant weather,  without  hope  of  seeing  its  lady 
contingent  asleep  in  rows,  which  is  a  pity  and 
a  loss. 

Port  Said,  12  December. 

No  use  going  on  shore  :  the  cabmen  have 
struck.  A  strike  of  cabmen  in  this  place  is 
novel  and  interesting,  as  it  is  an  indirect  proof 
that  Egypt  is  marching,  under  British  protection, 


lo  PORT   SAID 

into  lines  it  was  not  cognizant  of  only  a  very- 
few  years  since,  or  would  ever  have  been  allowed 
to  know  under  Turkish  rule.  I  wonder  whether 
the  Turks  are  suggesting  this  annoyance  !  Born 
of  the  Suez  Canal,  and  grown  out  of  that  canal, 
Port  Said  repays  its  debt  to  the  canal  by  engross- 
ing all  attention  upon  its  banks  to  the  exclusion 
of  its  own  very  evident  progress  in  development 
as  a  port  of  importance  between  the  decaying 
West  and  the  awakening  East ;  but  at  present 
the  strike  is  the  absorbing  topic. 

How  one  would  wish  the  bewildered  Czar  of 
Russia  to  possess  counsellors  who  could  tell  him 
what  the  real  meaning  of  a  strike  is,  and  how 
futile  is  any  endeavour  to  repress  them  by  any 
measure  which  savours  of  despotism.  Had  I  a 
copy  by  me,  I  would  like  to  send  an  admirable 
work  of  the  late  Louis  Philippe  d'Orleans,  Comte 
de  Paris,  on  trade  unions  in  England,  which  he 
presented  to  me  as  far  back  as  1869,  and  which 
he  wrote  in  consequence  of  the  Sheffield  riots  of 
1867.  I  would  beg  His  Imperial  Majesty's  atten- 
tion to  the  wisdom  of  that  Prince's  writings  : — 

"The  social  progress  of  the  working  classes 
and  the  pacific  solution  of  the  great  questions 
which  bear  upon  it  are,  in  every  country,  indis- 
solubly  connected  with  political  liberty.  At  all 
times  governments  that  have  hindered  liberty 
have  flattered  themselves  they  could  stifle  those 
questions  or  turn  to  their  own  advantage  the 
passions    to   which    they  give   rise.      By  silence 


COMTE   DE   PARIS   ON   TRADE    UNIONS        ii 

they  have  claimed  to  protect  the  rich  against 
popular  mistakes;  and  by  exercise  of  authority  to 
serve  the  interests  of  the  working  classes  better 
than  they  could  do  it  themselves:  fatal  and  double 
error  !  The  restriction  of  publicity  of  free  and 
open  inquiry  envenoms  without  solving  those 
questions  upon  which  it  throws  for  a  while  a 
deceptive  veil,  and  allows  an  abyss  to  be  formed 
between  the  different  classes  of  men  who  con- 
stitute one  and  the  same  nation."^ 

As  one  recedes  from  the  West  to  the  East,  and 

remembers  that  the   ''wise  men  came  from  the 

East,"  it  is  consoling  to  find  that  there  have  been 

exiled    Western    princes    who    have   gauged   the 

truth   as    to    the    relations  of   classes,    and  were 

able  to  give  sound  advice,  and  are  doing  so  even 

from  the  grave,  to  their  living  brother  potentates. 

I  say  from  the  grave  because  I  believe  the  book 

to  be  still  on  sale  :  but  possibly  sovereigns  may 

reply  as  Mary  Stuart  in  Schiller's  drama  : — 

Die  Konige  sind  nur  Sklaven  ihres  Standes 
Dem  eignen  Herzen  diirfen  sie  nicht  folgen  ; 

hence  probably  the  pity  they  inspire. 

'  "  Le  progr^s  social  des  classes  ouvri^res  et  la  solution  pacifique  des 
grandes  questions  qui  s'y  rattachent  sont,  dans  tous  les  pays,  indisso- 
lublement  lies  k  la  liberte  politique.  De  tout  temps  les  pouvoirs  qui  ont 
restreint  la  liberte  se  sont  flatt^s  d'dtouflfer  ces  questions,  ou  d'exploitera 
leur  profit  les  passions  qu'elles  font  naitre.  lis  ont  pretendu  proteger 
par  le  silence  les  classes  riches  contre  les  ^garements  populaires,  et,  par 
I'initiative  de  leur  autoritt^,  servir  les  int^rets  de  la  classe  laborieuse 
raieux  qu'elle  ne  saurait  le  faire  elle  meme  :  double  et  fatale  erreur  qui 
prepare  de  cruelles  surprises  k  ceux  qui  peuvent  se  laisser  bercer  par  une 
pareille  illusion  !  L'absence  de  publicity,  de  libre  discussion  envenime, 
sans  les  r^soudre,  les  questions  sur  lesquelles  elle  jette,  pour  quelque 
temps,  un  voile  trorapeur  et  laisse  se  creuser  un  abime  entre  les  diffi^rentes 
classes  d'hommes  qui  composent  une  seule  et  meme  nation." 
"  Les  associations  ouvrieres  en  Angleterre.     Paris,  1869." 


12  PORT   SAID 

A  German  royal  lady,  however,  once  told  me, 
on  my  remarking  that  the  Hoffahigkeit  of  German 
courts  shut  out  all  the  most  interesting  men  out- 
side military  rank:  *'Oh,  but  I  see  them  in 
private  audience  !  which  is  more  to  their  liking 
and  more  to  my  satisfaction"  —  a  proof  that 
Schiller's  Mary  Stuart  was  not  quite  accurate. 


Suez,  13  December. 

We  have  been  travelling  at  the  rate  of  five 
miles  an  hour  for  fourteen  hours  between  sand- 
banks and  through  some  of  the  most  interesting 
country  in  the  world  and  the  dreariest  and 
ugliest. 

Abraham  crossed  the  line  of  this  canal  on  his 
way  to  Memphis.  Jacob  coming  from  Syria 
crossed  it  on  his  way  to  Rameses  in  the  land  of 
Goshen  two  centuries  before  Moses  was  saved 
from  the  waters  of  the  Nile.  Pharaoh's  legions 
were  drowned  in  its  waters  by  the  incoming  tide 
of  the  Red  Sea,  and  more  pathetic  still  the  Holy 
Family,  fleeing  from  Herod  and  his  persecuting 
agents,  passed  near  Lake  Timsah  on  their  way 
to  Cairo. 

After  that  time  the  waters  of  the  Suez  Canal 
have  hailed  names  great  in  history  :  Herodotus, 
the  Ptolemies,  Alexander,  Strabo,  Anthony, 
Cleopatra,  and  last  not  least  the  great  Napoleon. 

To  this  latter,  it  is  said,  appertains  the  merit  of 
giving  practical  shape  to  the  idea  of  a  waterway. 


THE   CANAL  13 

the  possibilities  and  advantages  of  which  had 
been  apprehended  three  thousand  years  ago,  and 
partially  realized  for  a  thousand  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  To  his  mad  descent  on  Egypt 
Napoleon  owed  the  conception  of  giving  to 
navigation  in  French  hands  the  means  of  reach- 
ing India  some  thirty  days  before  Nelson's  ships 
could  prevent  it.  To  the  engineer  Lepere  he 
confided  his  views  and  gave  his  instructions  ;  and 
it  was  from  reading  the  latter's  report  that  de 
Lesseps,  when  quite  a  young  man,  fired  with 
enthusiasm,  derived  his  resolve  to  devote  his  life, 
if  it  should  take  as  long,  in  the  carrying  out  of 
so  great  a  conception. 

Undoubtedly  the  Suez  Canal  honours  Egypt 
quite  as  much  as  the  skill  which  wrought  the 
Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx ;  but  it  is,  in  the 
twentieth  century,  a  recording  monument,  in  the 
growth  of  ages,  of  that  continuity  of  genius 
which  belongs  to  man.  It  is  even  more  :  it  is 
a  work  which,  unlike  the  great  achievements  of 
antiquity,  does  credit  to  the  individual  enterprise 
of  man  as  a  free  agent  under  free  institutions,  and 
to  the  marvellous  resources  of  such  a  man  as  de 
Lesseps  in  bringing  to  a  successful  issue  an 
enterprise  against  which  were  at  once  arrayed 
the  political  jealousies  of  governments,  the 
scientific  objections  of  recognized  authorities, 
the  timidity  of  capitalists,  and  the  difficulties  of 
labour. 

The  canal  is  built,  it  is  recognized,  it  pays, 


14  SUEZ 

and  it  has  passed  into  the  economical  lives  of 
maritime  nations  ;  but  it  is  not  a  canal,  for  all 
that.  It  has  no  locks,  no  stopgates  ;  no  offlets, 
and  when  one  reads  of  ebbs  and  tides  and  uneven 
levels,  however  faint  or  slight,  it  produces  an 
uncomfortable  reminder  that  the  least  variation 
in  existing  conditions  might  be  productive  of 
dire  results. 

The  Suez  Canal  is  but  an  arm  of  the  Red  Sea 
trying  to  grasp  another  sea  and  meeting  that  sea 
half-way.  But  it  is  interesting  to  reflect  in  our 
enlightened  days  that  the  canal  as  such,  with 
sluices  and  locks  and  offlets,  was  conceived  and 
begun  in  the  sixth  century  B.C. — was  arrested 
in  its  progress  by  Darius  in  the  fifth  for  fear 
of  overflowing  Egypt — and  was  actually  com- 
pleted by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  in  the  third 
century  before  Christ,  as  attested  by  Strabo, 
and  by  Pliny. 

Very  little  consideration  is  necessary  to  dispel 
the  idea  that  Napoleon  originated  that  which 
had  been  the  glory  of  bygone  Alexanders.  His 
decision  to  re-establish  water  communication  be- 
tween the  two  seas  that  divide  Asia  and  Africa 
was  influenced  by  reading  the  "Memoir"  of  Baron 
de  Tott,  which  appeared  in  1785.  The  Baron, 
who  was  Ambassador  of  France  at  Constanti- 
nople in  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI, 
mentions  among  the  works  that  have  thrown 
lustre  on  ancient  Egypt  "the  canal  of  com- 
munication between  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Medi- 


BARON    DE   TOTT  15 

terranean,  which  merits  the  first  place  if  the  efforts 
of  genius  in  favour  of  public  utility  are  seconded 
by  the  generations  destined  to  reap  the  fruits  of 
it"  :  and  Napoleon  considered  himself  the  genius 
of  utility.  ^*  Decidement,"  as  a  passenger  re- 
marked, **il  n'y  a  rien  de  nouveau  sous  la  calotte 
du  Ciel."  It  is  odd,  however,  that  even  in  this 
enterprise,  carried  out  so  many  years  after  his 
death.  Napoleon  should  have  been  thwarted  by 
England.  Suggested  by  him  to  Lepere — worked 
out  by  de  Lesseps  on  Lepere's  report — financed 
in  nearly  the  half  of  the  amount  of  its  cost  by 
Egypt,  the  canal  was  finally  bought  to  the 
amount  of  that  very  half  by  a  British  states- 
man, who  understood  foreign  affairs  from  the 
British  point  of  view,  and  who  thus  secured 
the  short  route  to  India  for  British  arms,  be- 
sides the  other  advantages  which  Napoleon  had 
coveted. 

Tott  must  have  been  a  painstaking  diplomatist. 
His  pages  are  full  of  information.  He  considers 
that  ''the  natural  riches  of  Egypt  are  in  no 
respect  injurious  to  the  life  of  man,"  and  depicts 
the  Egyptians  in  colours  which,  it  is  hoped,  have 
been  toned  down  since  his  day. 

"The  people,"  he  says,  '*are  gentle  and  timid: 
likewise  gay  and  debauched — they  take  no  plea- 
sure but  in  excess.  The  men  and  women  swim 
like  fishes  ;  their  dress  consists  only  of  a  blue 
shirt,  which  scarcely  descends  low  enough  to  hide 
nakedness  :  the  children  are  always  naked,  and," 


i6  ADEN 

he  adds,  "  I  have  seen  young-  girls  still  treated  as 
children  at  eighteen  years  of  age  !  " 

From  the  decks  of  the  *'  Persia  "  we  could  not 
confirm  or  disprove  this  careful  investigation,  but 

Macte  nova  virtute  puer  sic  itur  ad  astra. 


Aden,  17  December. 

Fortunately,  it  is  nowhere  stated  that  Aden  is 
the  Promised  Land,  for,  if  it  were,  crossing  the 
Red  Sea  to  reach  it  would  be  a  work  of  super- 
erogation. It  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  more 
barren  spot,  and  yet  I  remember  a  few  years  ago 
some  French  officers  from  Djiboutil  looking  upon 
it  as  an  Eden,  and  always  spending  their  short 
furloughs  within  its  fortified  precincts  ! 

An  inquisitive  passenger  has  asked  me  the 
derivation  of  the  name.  Unless  it  comes  from 
A ,  I  really  neither  know  nor  care,  but  ety- 
mologists are  almost  as  fanatical  as  lady  bridge 
players  and  more  tiresome.  Voltaire  wrote  a 
pleasant  skit  upon  the  tribe.  He  invented  a  word 
and  then  wrote  : — 

Alfana  vient  d'equus  sans  doute, 
Mais  il  faut  convenir  aussi 

qu'en  venant  de  li  jusqu'ici, 
II  a  bien  chang-6  en  route. 

What  is  more  interesting  is  to  note  on  a  journey 
eastward  how  superior  was  the  geographical 
knowledge  of  our  ancestors  to  that  of  their 
continental    contemporaries.      Gibraltar,    Malta, 


OBOCK  17 

Egypt,  Perim,  Aden,  Ceylon,  Penang,  Singapore, 
Hong-Kong,  what  tempting  places  for  present 
restless  ambition  !  and  what  admirable  coaling 
centres !  A  captain  of  a  Messageries  steamer 
once  attitudinized  rather  funnily  before  me  at 
Obock.  **  Do  you  see  that?"  he  said — we  were 
in  the  roadstead — "ce  sont  des  trous  comme 
ca  que  vous  nous  avez  laisses,  and  our  govern- 
ments do  not  even  know  where  they  lie.  How 
can  one  establish  a  colonial  empire  by  filling 
up  holes  of  which  you  ignore  the  position?"  I 
could  not  help  thinking  it  was  wise  diplomacy 
to  appear  not  to  know  where  such  places 
existed,  as  it  enabled  governments  to  look  else- 
where ! 

But  Aden  has  one  advantage  :  it  is  the  first 
place  which  breathes  of  the  East  and  where  that 
great  orb  which  illumines  the  world  seems  to 
have  established  his  golden  throne.  Here,  for 
the  first  time,  the  traveller  contemplates  his 
magnificence  with  feelings  other  than  the  creature 
self  suggests  for  comfort  or  the  reverse.  Whether 
at  sunrise,  in  silver  clothing,  or  grander  still  at 
sunset,  in  crimson  and  gold,  man  beholds  the 
sun  with  awe  quite  as  much  as  with  loving 
admiration,  and  realizes  how  the  first  notions  of 
a  deity  among  men  must  have  been  derived  from 
the  contemplation  of  that  sun. 

''Soul  of  the  Universe,  glorious  sun,  are  you 
alone  the  author  of  all  the  good  things  you 
bestow  on  us  ?  or  are  you  but  the  minister  of  a 


i8  ADEN 

primary  essence,  of  an  intelligence  above  yours? 
If  you  follow  nought  but  your  own  will,  accept 
our  grateful  homage  ;  but  if  you  obey  the  law  of 
a  supreme  and  invisible  Being,  carry  that  homage 
to  Him  :  He  must  be  pleased  if  adored  in  His 
most  resplendent  image." 

So  speaks  Marmontel's  West  Indian  in  an 
otherwise  inferior  book,  "  Les  Incas,"  but  the 
prayer  is  so  natural,  so  true  in  its  conception,  so 
like  what  we  conceive  the  original  supposition 
of  a  deity  to  have  been  among  the  '*unre- 
generated, "  whether  of  these  days  or  bygone 
times,  that  it  serves  me  well  as  an  opening  to  the 
study  of  Oriental  religions,  which  I  am  told  is 
indispensable  to  a  visit  to  the  Far  East.  In  Aden 
I  therefore  bid  adieu  to  the 

Prandeo,  poto,  cano,  ludo,  lego,  coeno,  quiesco, 

of  this  last  fortnight  in  the  West  and  make  my 
respectful  salaam  to  the  East. 

But  it  would  be  ungracious  not  to  bear  some 
testimony  to  those  who,  so  far,  have  no  doubt 
been  prepared  to  share  perils  we  have  not  en- 
countered, but  have  enjoyed  with  me  the  splendid 
weather,  calm  seas,  substantial  repasts,  and  skil- 
ful navigation  of  the  **  Persia"  under  Captain 
Powell  and  his  courteous  officers.  It  has  been 
a  yachting  trip  in  which  all  have  vied  to  display 
their  best  characteristics,  and  some,  their  best 
dresses.  Samuel  Foote,  the  actor  and  wit,  said 
that   woman   is   to  be  counted  like  a  game  of 


LADY   MISSIONARIES  19 

piquet  :  27,  28,  29  .  .  .  60  !  but  I  do  not  believe 
it.     Joseph  Demoulin  records  that : — 

Jadis  une  jeune  meuni^re 

Au  frais  minois  k  I'oeil  malin 
Alia  trouver  le  grand  Merlin. 
Get  enchanteur  pouvait  tout  sur  la  terre 
Mais  de  forcer  une  femme  a.  se  taire 
Le  Diable  y  perdrait  son  latin. 

This  also  I  disbelieve. 

Some  charitable  and  very  agreeable  lady  mis- 
sionaries distributed  tracts  and  influenza  all  round 
with  praiseworthy  impartiality.  The  tracts  were 
harmless,  but  among  the  Indians  who  were  to  be 
converted  it  is  doubtful  whether  influenza  may 
not  prove  an  antidote  to  conversion. 

We  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise 
From  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies. 


CHAPTER    II 


Bombay    . 

Customs — Parsees. 

Delhi 

.     Heroism. 

Agra 

Moguls. 

Benares  . 

.     Hindoo  degradation  and  superstition 

Calcutta 

Suggestiofis. 

Ceylon     . 

.     Pride,  pluck,  and  beauty. 

Bombay,  22  December, 

WE  all  go  ashore  ;  a  long  string  of  us,  in 
Indian  file,  across  a  narrow  gangway 
which  deposits  us  among  an  expectant  crowd, 
liable  to  mistakes.  We  have  among  us  three 
would-be  brides ;  and,  indeed,  they  are  to  be 
married  within  twenty -four  hours  to  highly- 
educated  gentlemen,  who  have  only  seen  their 
photographs  before  this  happy  day.  The  exuber- 
ance of  the  welcome  is  accounted  for  ;  but  is  that 
a  blush  of  pleasure  or  of  anger  which  we  note 
on  the  countenance  of  one  who  has  been  em- 
braced, possibly  by  mistake  ?  What  does  it 
matter?  Photographs  are  so  deceptive,  and 
people  are  so  like  one  another  in  a  photograph. 

I  remember  once,  in  Oxford  Street,  meeting  a 
dear  old  lady,  accompanied  by  two  daughters, 
who  took  into  her  head  that  I  was  her  long-lost 


AN   UNFORTUNATE    HABIT  21 

nephew  John.  She  folded  me  in  her  arms  as  I 
came  alongside,  and  embraced  me  at  the  same 
time  that  she  gently  reproached  me  for  not  writ- 
ing. I  pleaded  guilty  to  the  latter  omission, 
adding  however,  as  an  excuse,  that  my  name 
was  not  Johnnie  ;  whereupon  her  prudish  daugh- 
ters made  matters  horribly  uncomfortable  for  the 
single-hearted  old  soul  by  calling  out,  *' Mamma! 
you  are  always  doing  this  sort  of  thing  !  "  It 
was  apparently  a  habit ! 

Well,  for  my  part,  I  wish  it  were  not  the  habit 
of  every  colony  and  dependency  of  the  British 
Crown  to  submit  travellers  to  the  tiresome  ordeal 
of  custom  search,  or  exaction,  or  waiting. 
Why  should  not  an  officer  on  board  ship  or 
in  the  train  be  empowered  to  examine  luggage 
before  landing,  and  thus  allow  the  bona  fide 
traveller  to  rush  off  in  peace  to  his  home  or  his 
pleasure  on  arrival,  instead  of  waiting  hours  for 
permission  to  be  free,  or  for  his  luggage  ?  I  have 
not  made  up  my  mind  yet  whether  any  axiom  in 
ethics  can  defend  the  proposition  that  '*meum" 
becomes  '*tuum  "  because  it  passes  from  one  por- 
tion of  Great  Britain  to  another,  but  I  suppose 
that  necessity,  being  mother  of  invention,  and 
colonial  necessity  having  invented  customs  as  a 
set-oif  to  the  avarice  of  the  British  Treasury, 
there  is  nothing  left  but  to  grin  and  bear  it. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  Bombay 
is  not  only  a  fine  town,  but  a  magnificent  city 
of  nearly  800,000  inhabitants  ;   somewhat  ambi- 


22  BOMBAY 

tious  perhaps,    but   exceedingly  striking  for  all 
that. 

The  Victoria  Station  beats  the  Houses  of 
Parliament  at  Westminster  ;  and  the  Municipal 
Buildings  with  their  dome  vie  with  St.  Paul's. 
The  Royal  Yacht  Club  at  Cowes  cannot  com- 
pete with  the  Bombay  resort  of  that  name,  and 
the  post  and  telegraph  offices  combine  all  the 
styles  of  medieval  art,  there  being  nothing  ap- 
proaching them  in  the  capitals  of  Europe.  It  is 
all  very  beautiful.  But  is  it  in  keeping  with  the 
Orient?  With  those  multicoloured  crowds  that 
make  its  streets  so  interesting  ;  with  those  de- 
votees of  the  elements  of  nature  who  constitute 
its  moneyed  aristocracy ;  and  with  a  climate  which, 
registering  eighty-one  in  the  shade  in  December 
this  year,  is  said  to  average  seventy-nine  through- 
out the  year?  **  De  gustibus,"  etc.,  but  a  Gothic 
monument  in  an  Eastern  climate  and  amid  an 
Eastern  people  is  very  much  like  a  mosque  in 
Cheapside  or  a  pagoda  in  Bond  Street. 

Quite  the  most  interesting  feature  of  Bombay, 
though  not  its  brightest,  is  the  place  where  rise 
the  five  Towers  of  Silence,  and  where  innumer- 
able vultures  await,  with  concern,  the  arrival  of  a 
Parsee  funeral  procession.  In  exactly  two  hours 
from  the  exposal  of  the  naked  dead  on  gradu- 
ated circular  slabs,  all  that  was  flesh  has  been 
devoured  ;  while,  in  two  days,  even  the  bones 
have  been  collected,  mixed  with  lime  and  acids, 
and  reduced  to  a  liquid  fertilizer  which  is  poured 


PARSEES  23 

down  a  centre  well.  It  would  be  difficult  to  give 
a  more  practical  turn  to  the  sacred  command, 
**  Earth  to  earth." 

What  is  surprising  is  that  the  Parsees  or  strict 
followers  of  Zarahtuschtra,  alias  Zoroaster,  who 
firmly  believe  in  a  final  resurrection  of  the  body, 
should  have  conceived  so  perfect  an  annihilation 
of  the  same  before  the  day  of  general  judgment. 
They,  at  least,  are  not  afraid  that  there  will  be 
any  confusion  of  limbs  on  the  occasion  such  as 
some  objectors  to  cremation  appear  to  dread,  and 
it  must  be  allowed  that  that  faith  is  the  strongest 
which  knows  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the 
Omnipotent. 

These  descendants  of  the  vpriginal  Magi,  of 
whom  Zoroaster  was  the  reformer  among  the 
Perso-Iranians  or  Bactrians,  now  only  number 
some  eighty  thousand  throughout  the  East,  more 
than  two-thirds  of  whom  have  their  homes  in 
Bombay.  They  profess  their  old  religion,  which 
is  upwards  of  three  thousand  years  old,  almost 
textually  as  it  was  taught  by  the  self-asserted 
prophet  who  gave  it  life.  Just  as  a  Mohammedan 
calls  on  Allah  and  his  prophet  Mohammed,  so  do 
the  Parsees  call  on  Ahura  Mazdao  with  his  prophet 
(zaota)  Zarahtuschtra,  with  this  difference,  that 
the  god  of  Mohammed  is  one  supreme  being,  and 
the  god  of  the  Parsees  is  composed  of  *'  Ormuzd, " 
in  all  that  is  good,  and  *' Ahriman  "  in  all  that  is 
bad  :  hence  a  dualistic  divinity.  But  where 
Mohammedanism    despotically    disposes    of   all 


24  DELHI 

problems,  Zoroasterism  makes  its  two  divinities 
fight  for  the  possession  of  man,  who  is  free  to 
choose  between  them,  and  all  eventually  comes 
back  to  Lafontaine's  rendering  of  ^sop's  fable  of 
''Phoebus  and  Boreas,"  in  which  the  sun  wins 
against  the  violence  of  the  wind  ;  man  consider- 
ing that :    "  Mieux  vaut  douceur  que  violence." 

But  I  do  hope  that  the  vultures  will  not  con- 
tinue to  drop  pieces  of  dead  flesh  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Towers  of  Silence  ! 


Delhi,  28  December. 

We  reached  this  historical  city  late  last  night 
and  put  up  at  a  small  but  delightful  new  hotel 
called  the  "Cecil,"  which  is  not  yet  known  to 
travellers,  and  hence  is  the  more  attractive  for 
having  no  history  attached  to  its  precincts.  An 
inn  with  a  history  is  an  uncomfortable  abode. 
It  generally  gives  to  its  reputation  the  first  place, 
and  to  cleanliness  the  second,  which  would  be 
right  according  to  the  proverb  if  reputation 
meant  godliness,  but  is  not  so  from  any  other 
standpoint. 

We  started  early  on  our  pilgrimage  to  places 
hallowed  by  the  valorous  deeds  of  our  country- 
men during  the  Mutiny,  and  by  the  innocent 
blood  of  women  and  children  who  were  ruth- 
lessly and  treacherously  murdered  by  the  last 
supporters  of  the  last  Emperor  of  Delhi  :  a 
cowardly  deed  to  crown  the  great  traditions  of 


NICHOLSON,    WILLOUGHBY  25 

the  monarchs  of  India.  The  Cashmere  Gate  ! 
The  water  bastion  !  The  magazine  !  So  many  re- 
cords of  British  gallantry  :  so  many  recollections 
of  brave  men.  Who  more  brave  than  Brigadier- 
General  John  Nicholson, 

WHO    LED    THE    ASSAULT    OF    DELHI,    BUT   FELL 

IN    THE    HOUR    OF    VICTORY 

MORTALLY    WOUNDED, 

AND    DIED    23    SEPTEMBER,     1 857, 

AGED    35    YEARS, 

as  a  tablet  recalls  ? 

Who  more  deserving  of  respectful  admiration 
than  **the  mere  lad,"  Lieutenant  Willoughby, 
who,  with  only  eight  men,  defended  the  powder 
magazine  to  the  last,  and  exploded  it  only  on 
finding  all  hope  of  succour  was  vain,  so  that 
he  should  not  have  to  surrender  it  to  the  rebels  ? 
Field-Marshal  Lord  Roberts  mentions  a  Lieuten- 
ant Willoughby,  a  ''mere  lad,"  killed  at  Ruhiya, 
who  had  been  recommended  for  the  V.C.,  and 
had  brought  his  regiment,  the  4th  Punjab  In- 
fantry, out  of  action  at  the  taking  of  Sikandar- 
bagh,  on  the  outskirt  of  Lucknow.  It  may  be 
the  same  as  the  Delhi  hero,  as  he  was  known  to 
have  escaped  when  the  magazine  blew  up  ;  but 
what  interests  me  especially  is  the  association  of 
names  and  gallantry. 

Willoughby  is  one  of  those  names  with  which 
heroism  is  intimately  connected,  and  I  would 
like  to  know  whether  this  courageous  youth  was 
a    grandson    or   a  grand-nephew    of   the    heroic 


26  DELHI 

Captain  Willoughby  of  "  Nereid  "  fame,  who, 
in  1810,  had  an  unsuccessful  encounter  with  a 
stronger  French  squadron  in  the  Bay  of  Grand- 
Port  in  Mauritius,  but  so  won  the  admiration  of 
the  victor,  Commandant  Duperre,  that,  on  their 
both  being  wounded,  the  latter  insisted  on  their 
being  both  attended  to  in  the  same  room  in  the 
house  of  M.  de  Rochecouste  at  Grand-Port. 
I  had  a  tablet  erected  to  record  the  incident  in 
the  very  room  where  it  occurred. 

**  Des  que  nous  fumes  montes  a  bord  de  la 
N^reide,  pas  un  seul  etre  debout  ne  se  presenta 
a  notre  vue.  Nous  dumes  meme  prendre  les  plus 
minutieuses  precautions  pour  ne  pas  fouler  sous 
nos  pieds  les  morts,  les  mourants,  les  blesses  et 
les  membres  disperses  dont  les  gaillards  (decks) 
etaient  couverts.  Parvenus  sur  I'arriere  de  ce 
tombeau  flottant  nous  apercumes  sur  le  banc  ou 
coffre  d'armes,  un  objet  enveloppe  dans  le  Union 
Jack  Britannique.  Monsieur  Roussin  I'entrouvrit 
avec  soin  :  et,  quels  ne  furent  point  notre  etonne- 
ment  et  notre  admiration,  en  y  trouvant  le 
Capitaine  Willoughby  grievement  blesse  a  la 
face,  un  ceil  emporte,  et  presque  sans  mouve- 
ment." 

That  is  the  account  of  the  finding  of  the 
captain  of  the  **  Nereid,"  a  12-gun  sloop,  by  the 
officer,  Monsieur  Wantzloeben,  sent  on  board  by 
the  "Bellone,"  a  40-gun  frigate,  on  the  morrow 
of  this  memorable  fight  in  Mauritius  waters. 
Captain  Willoughby 's  guns  were  silent  because 


HODSON  27 

no  man  was  left  unwounded  or  able  to  fire  them  : 
but  her  captain  had  neither  surrendered  his 
colours  nor  his  person.  His  enemy  had  to  come 
on  board  his  battered  ship  to  seize  both  trophies. 
Lord  Roberts's  book  on  India,  that  country 
where  he  and  his  father  together  ^*  spent  nearly 
ninety  years  "  of  their  distinguished  lives,  is  a 
sufficient  excuse  for  me  to  abstain  from  any  re- 
marks in  these  notes,  which  a  visit  to  such  a 
place  as  Delhi  calls  forth  ;  but  to  those  who  now 
tread  the  Chandni  Chauk  in  search  of  Indian 
works  of  art,  whether  in  the  way  of  silver  or 
embroidery,  I  commend  his  account  of  what  he 
saw,  as,  on  the  day  of  General  Nicholson's 
funeral,  he  marched  out  of  Delhi  on  the  morning 
of  24  September  (page  142),  and  to  those  who 
like  myself  dislike  summary  proceedings  in  the 
hour  of  victory,  I  would  point  to  Lord  Roberts's 
regrets  (page  137)  that,  **so  brilliant  a  soldier  as 
Hodson  should  have  shot  with  his  own  hand  the 
two  sons  and  grandson  of  the  old  King  of  Delhi." 
It  is  the  one  note  that  jars  on  the  harmony  of 
great  British  deeds  before  Delhi. 

Agra,  4  January,  1906. 

*'To  see  Naples  and  then  die  "  was  a  favourite 
saying  a  few  years  back  when  it  was  difficult  to 
get  there  and  Vesuvius  was  possibly  active.  At 
all  events,  people  saw  it  and  did  not  die.  I  would 
say,  with  the  great  facilities  of  travelling  offered 


38  DELHI 

to  the  meanest  purse  in  the  present  day,  that  not 
to  see  the  Taj  at  Agra  is  not  to  prove  worthy  of 
existence.  It  is  the  most  simple,  beautiful, 
pathetic  monument  in  the  whole  world,  compared 
with  which  there  is  nothing  west  or  east  of  Agra 
that  can  be  spoken  of  with  equal  truth,  admira- 
tion, and  respect  ;  it  is  worth  the  whole  of 
India  and  the  rest  of  the  world  besides  ;  and  it 
speaks  to  the  soul  as  no  work  fashioned  by  the 
hands  of  man  has  ever  spoken  before.  It  is  at 
once  the  pride  and  glory  of  a  short-lived  race  of 
sovereigns  who  have  come  down  to  us  in  history 
as  the  great  Moguls,  and  the  touching  recital  of 
an  emperor's  love  for  a  remarkable  wife,  that 
story  which  levels  emperors  to  man's  estate. 
Historically,  it  is  the  tomb  erected  by  Shah  Jehan 
to  his  beloved  Arjumand  Banu  Begam,  who  was 
better  known  as  Muntaz  Mahal,  "the  Crown  of 
the  Palace, "  and  was  celebrated  for  her  beauty, 
her  charity,  and  her  intelligence.  Born  in  1593, 
she  died  in  childbirth  in  1630,  having  borne  four- 
teen children  to  her  lord  and  master,  and  died  at 
Burhanpur,  to  which  place  she  had  accompanied 
him  on  his  campaign  against  Khan  Lodi.  Her 
remains  were  brought  to  Agra,  and  temporarily 
deposited  in  the  garden  of  the  Taj  until  the 
vault  was  built  which  was  to  receive  them. 
It  took  twenty  years  to  build,  during  five  of 
which  Shah  Jehan,  who  had  been  deposed  by 
Aurungzebe,  his  second  son,  watched  day  by  day 
the  building  being  raised  from  a  small  terrace  in 


MUNTAZ    MAHAL  29 

the  fort  at  Agra,  and  obtained,  as  a  favour,  the 
right  to  be  buried  next  to  his  great  love  in  the 
same  vault,  though  not  on  that  side  of  her  which 
would  have  been  his  privilege  had  he  still  been 
the  ruling  emperor. 

The  romance  of  these  royal  lives,  the  poetry  of 
their  affection,  their  dramatic  end,  all  fill  the  soul 
with  pity,  with  love,  and  with  sympathy  as  one 
enters  the  almost  holy  precinct  which  harbours 
their  remains,  while  wonder,  pleasure,  admira- 
tion, like  so  many  notes  of  music,  strike  the 
mind  as  it  dwells  on  the  care  bestowed  during 
five  centuries  upon  a  tomb  which  is  nought  but  a 
glorious  tribute  to  the  sacredness  of  conjugal  love. 

Some  clerical  custodians  offered  me  some 
flowers  lying  on  the  little  jewelled  tomb  of 
Muntaz  Mahal.  They  had  probably  been  placed 
there  that  morning  as  a  means  to  a  sordid  end, 
but  I  took  them  reverently  as  emblems  of  the 
beautiful  flower  of  goodness  which  lay  in  that 
recess,  and  whose  blameless  Eastern  life  could 
still,  across  so  many  centuries,  call  forth  the  ad- 
miration and  respect  of  the  Christian  West. 

And  we  wept  that  one  so  lovely  should  have  a  life  so  brief, 
Yet  not  unmeet  it  was  that  one,  like  that  young  friend  of  ours, 
So  g'entle  and  so  beautiful  should  perish  with  the  flowers. 

Whether  as  a  counterpoise,  or  a  corrective,  or 
a  punishment,  I  cannot  say  which,  I  stumbled, 
an  hour  after  my  visit  to  the  Taj,  on  a  history 
written  by  an  Indian  gentleman  in  what  he 
amiably  believed  to  be  the  English  language.     It 


30  DELHI 

was,  he  said,  his  "first  venture  in  a  language  not 
his  mother  tongue";  "therefore  he  had  dedi- 
cated it  to  a  generous  patron  "  and  a  distin- 
guished general.  He  had  also  heard  that  His 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  about 
to  visit  Agra  among  Indian  places,  and  con- 
sidered it  loyal  to  have  his  first  humble  effort  in 
the  British  tongue  ready  for  presentation  to  the 
heir  apparent.  All  this  is  no  doubt  very  proper, 
but  this  Indian  author  has  vulgarized  Muntaz 
Mahal,  and  in  common  with  most  men  I  dislike 
— this,  no  doubt,  is  an  error,  "errare  humanum 
est " — to  see  my  heroes  and  heroines  brought 
down  from  the  pedestal  on  which  I  have  placed 
them  by  processes  which,  however  innocent  and 
primitive,  are  not  in  the  interest  of  history,  of 
fact,  or  of  public  utility. 

In  justice  to  "  M.  D.  Moin-ud-Din,"  an 
authority  I  believe  in  Urdu  literature,  I  must  at 
once  allow  that  his  details  respecting  the  build- 
ing and  architectural  features  of  the  Taj  are  very 
interesting,  but  I  am  not  concerned  with  these, 
but  with  the  lady  before  whom  even  Mr.  Moin-ud- 
Din,  M.D.,  declares  that  an  Oriental  on  beholding 
the  Taj  would  exclaim  in  English  verse  : — 

Of  graces  all  doth  none  compare 
With  thee,  thou  fairest  of  the  fair. 

And  yet  proceeds  in  a  maiden  English  effort  to 
underrate  her  for  the  benefit  of  those  he  styles 
"English  literate  and  officers  and  European 
gentlemen  in  general." 


MOIN-UD-DIN,    M.D.  31 

Accordingly,  he  makes  her  out  to  have  been  a 
designing  concubine,  whose  imperial  lover  "re- 
mained entangled  in  the  meshes  of  her  love  till 
his  death,  '  a  rapacious  mistress  ''who,  being 
the  medium  of  all  royal  gifts,  took  good  care 
that  the  choicest  were  bestowed  upon  her  father"; 
an  ambitious  lady  who  was  especially  "careful  of 
the  royal  seal."  When,  however,  European  his- 
torians charge  Shah  Jehan  with  bigotry,  "traced 
to  narrow-mindedness  in  Muntaz, "  Moin-ud- 
Din,  M.D.,  rebels  and  calls  the  statement  a  mere 
creation  of  their  fancy,  assuring  us  that  "she 
was  a  pious  woman,  most  careful  of  her  daily 
prayers,"  and  that  when  she  died,  "owing  to 
some  internal  disorder,  Shah  Jehan  took  the 
bereavement  to  heart."  Her  loss,  in  fact,  "un- 
hinged his  mind  " — "grief  corroded  his  heart  " — 
"the  purples  and  dainties  were  hated,"  and  "his 
whole  head  became  silver  grey." 

What  a  prosaic  story  !  For  my  part,  while 
wishing  this  author  every  success,  I  must  confess 
that  his  book  has  not  changed  my  opinion.  I 
still  think  Muntaz  Mahal  the  brightest,  cleverest 
empress  that  ever  lived  ;  a  loving  captivating 
woman  ;  an  admirable  wife,  an  angel  of  good 
counsel,  and  the  shining  jewel  in  the  jewelled 
crown  of  the  great  Mogul,  who  sickened  and 
died  when  she  died. 

Sic  transit  gloria  mundi. 

But  the  Taj  remains  a  monument  of  grateful  love. 


32  DELHI 

The  fort  at  Agra  is  more  imposing  than  that 
at  Delhi,  but  it  is  a  question  of  individual  fancy, 
which  of  the  two  Pearl  Mosques  or  private  ora- 
tories of  the  emperors  within  these  forts  deserves 
the  palm  of  purity  of  conception  and  beauty  of 
execution.  Guide-books  in  their  plethora  of  de- 
tail cannot  convey  a  tithe  of  the  impression  these 
marvels  of  architectural  finish  produce  on  the 
beholder,  and  a  library  could  be  filled  with  books 
dealing  only  with  marbles,  precious  stones,  and 
skilled  labour  employed  in  producing  these  great 
monuments  of  Mogul  power,  wealth,  and  taste. 

It  is  singular,  though  perhaps  very  human, 
that  the  authors  of  such  cities  as  Agra  and 
Delhi  should  have  committed  mistakes  so 
serious  as,  for  instance,  at  Fatehpur  Sikri,  a 
few  miles  from  Agra,  the  home  of  the  great 
Akhbar  Khan  and  of  his  supposed  Christian 
wife  Miriam.  This  beautiful  palace  and  city 
had  to  be  given  up  because  of  scarcity  of  water. 
To  a  mighty  sovereign,  with  legions  at  his  com- 
mand, water  was  as  much  a  necessity  as  to  the 
poorest  of  his  subjects,  and  should  ,have  been 
thought  of  before  building  at  all,  but  it  was  not, 
and  hence  Agra  on  the  Jumna  received  his  atten- 
tion and  Fatehpur  was  abandoned ;  but  it  is 
sufficiently  well  preserved  in  its  deserted  condi- 
tion to  enable  one  thoroughly  to  understand  both 
the  general  plan  of  a  royal  city  in  Mogul  times, 
and  the  mode  of  life  which  was  led  therein,  and 
hence  is  very  interesting. 


A   SAYING   ATTRIBUTED   TO   CHRIST  33 

It  is  clear  women  played  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  daily  life  of  the  palace.  The  sultanas 
Rakiyah,  and  Miriam  formed  part  of  Akhbar's 
councils  and  the  counterpart  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
with  the  earls  of  Leicester  and  of  Essex  :  all 
these  historical  personages  being  contemporaries 
(1556-1602). 

Though  Rakiyah  was  the  favourite  wife, 
Miriam  became  the  mother  of  Jahangir,  who 
succeeded  Akhbar  ;  and  whether  Miriam  was  a 
Christian  Portuguese  princess,  or  simply  Mariam 
up  Zamani,  a  royal  lady  from  Jaipur,  matters 
little,  for  she  it  was  who  inclined  Akhbar  to 
tolerance  and  to  Christianity.  On  the  walls  of 
many  rooms  are  signs  of  Christian  worship, 
while  in  the  archway  of  Buland  Darwayan  (the 
high  gate)  of  Victory  is  inscribed  a  saying 
attributed  to  our  Lord,  ''Isa  (Jesus),  on  whom 
be  peace,  said :  The  world  is  a  bridge  ;  pass  over 
it,  but  build  no  house  on  it.  The  world  endures 
but  an  hour;  spend  it  in  devotion,"  which  one 
would  like  to  know  a  little  more  about,  as  the 
quotation,  if  it  be  one,  is  not  familiar  or  generally 
known. 

Benares,  9  January. 

I    wish    I    could   write   dispassionately  of  this 

place.      It    is    called     the    sacred     city    of  the 

Hindoos,  and  it  is  the  one  place  where  all  that 

is   holy  in   creation   is   desecrated,    defiled,  and 
debased. 


34  BENARES 

We  reached  the  town  at  an  early  hour;  and  I 
had  not  been  in  two  of  its  temples  and  on  the 
waters  of  the  Ganges  before  I  craved  to  be  gone 
and  to  shake  from  off  my  shoes  the  dust  of  this 
disgusting  place.  I  think  it  is  Byron  who,  some- 
where, exclaims  : — 

How  beautiful  is  all  this  visible  world, 
How  glorious  in  its  action  and  in  itself. 

He  had  not  been  to  Benares  and  beheld  man, 
the  finest  work  of  the  Almighty,  reduced  to 
beast's  estate  ;  and  religion,  that  anchor  of  hope, 
fashioned  by  the  innate  trust  of  the  soul  in  a 
Supreme  Being  which  craves  to  worship  Him  in 
some  manner  on  earth,  levelled  to  the  practice  of 
the  most  disgusting  and  revolting  rites. 

But  what  fills  one  with  anger  is  the  knowledge 
that  these  Hindoo  practices  are  not  the  teaching 
of  the  Vedas.  They  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Mahabharata  or  Ramayana.  Neither  Vishnu  nor 
Lakshmi;  neither  Siva  nor  Uma;  neither  Brahma 
nor  Vach  is  responsible  for  these  truly  savage 
pagan  rites.  They  are  the  result  of  the  system- 
atic resolve  of  the  Brahmins  or  priests  who  con- 
stitute the  first  caste  to  keep  down  every  other 
caste  by  instilling  so  much  fear  as  to  create 
cowardice.  These  caste  men  inspire  so  much 
terror  that  they  foster  the  belief  that  nothing  can 
be  hoped  for  except  temporary  immunity  from 
the  displeasure  of  spirits  of  evil  lurking  in  every 
bush  and  tree  and  herb  and  river  and  lake,  sea, 
wind,  or  sky  to  the  number  of  over  three  million. 


BOURDALOUE  35 

by  offerings  to  the  Brahmins  who  alone  can  show 
them  the  way  of  conciHation. 

It  is  recorded  that  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV 
Bourdaloue  addressed  the  King  as  Monseigneur 
and  his  Court  as  "  et  vous  canailles  de  pecheurs." 
The  Brahmins  do  not  call  their  victims  a  miserable 
rabble  but  devout  pilgrims,  and  reap  the  result  of 
this  flattery.  No  wonder  there  are  so  many  Brah- 
mins! And  this  degradation  of  man  is  permitted 
by  us,  the  British  who  boast  of  liberty  and  toler- 
ance and  common  sense  and  what  not  in  the  twen- 
tieth century  of  Christianity!  And  when  Anglo- 
Indians  are  appealed  to  to  stop  the  levelling  of 
man  to  the  hog's  estate,  all  that  is  vouchsafed  is  a 
declaration  that  caste  must  not  be  interfered  with, 
and  the  conversation  promptly  turns  to  the  horrors 
perpetrated  in  the  Belgian  Congo  or  anywhere 
else. 

I  share  the  view  of  an  American,  Mr.  William 
Eleroy  Curtis,  expressed  in  a  carefully-written 
book  entitled  ''Modern  India." 

**  There  is  nothing  in  the  Vedas  to  justify  the 
cruelties  of  the  Hindu  gods  and  the  practices 
of  the  priests.  They  do  not  authorize  animal  wor- 
ship, caste,  child  marriage,  burning  of  widows  ; 
but  the  Brahmins  have  built  up  a  stupendous 
system  of  superstition  of  which  they  alone  pre- 
tend to  know  the  mystic  meaning,  and  their 
supremacy  is  established.  Thus  the  nature 
worship  of  the  Vedas  has  disappeared  and  has 
given  place  to  terrorism,  demon  worship,  ob- 
scenity,  and  idolatry." 


36  BENARES 

It  is  easily  conceivable  that  the  Government 
of  India,  who  have  courageously  put  a  stop  to 
Jaggernaut  atrocities,  the  Thugs,  and  the  burning 
of  widows,  cannot  always,  and  at  all  times,  act 
in  a  high-handed  manner  ;  but  there  is  a  duty 
incumbent  on  Christian  Churches,  and  more 
especially  on  the  Church  of  England  as  the 
English  State  Church,  to  strive  their  utmost  to 
remove  this  blot  on  British  rule. 

They  should  look  round  and  see  whether  they 
are  going  the  right  way  to  succeed.  The  Hindoo 
priests  are  the  culprits.  Let  them  be  the  goal. 
Their  great  number  may  appal,  but  other  natives 
like  Rajah  Rai  and  Babu  Shandra  Sen  will  arise 
to  help  in  the  merciful  mission  of  inspiring  hope 
instead  of  instilling  fear  in  a  population  like  that 
of  our  greatest  dependency,  and  of  replacing 
dread  of  unknown  spirits  of  evil  by  confidence 
in  a  God  of  mercy  before  whom  princes  and 
coolies  are  equal. 

It  is  the  justice  and  equity  which  characterize 
British  administration  that  have  chased  away  the 
spirits  of  evil  sometimes  believed  to  be  lurking 
in  the  administrative  bodies,  and  that  have  re- 
stored confidence  to  the  working  coolies.  Let 
similar  means  be  adopted  in  purifying  the  creed 
of  those  same  coolies  by  converting  their  priests, 
and  showing  that  not  only  are  they  not  teaching 
that  which  the  Vedas  taught,  but  they  are  mak- 
ing a  questionable  living  out  of  the  superstitious 
fears  they  themselves  have  created.     Then,  and 


CASTE   TYRANNY  37 

not  till  then,  shall  we  be  able  to  say  to  the  Indian 
neophyte: — 

Incipe  parve  puer  risu  cognoscere  matrem. 

As  Field-Marshal  Lord  Roberts  says  : — 

*'  It  is  because  the  English  Government  is 
trusted  that  a  mere  handful  of  Englishmen  are 
able  to  direct  the  administration  of  a  country 
with  nearly  three  hundred  million  inhabitants 
differing  in  race,  religion,  and  manners  of  life"; 
but  he  significantly  adds,  **  these  feelings  will 
be  maintained  so  long  as  the  Services  are  filled 
by  honourable  men  who  sympathize  with  the 
natives." 

Is  not  the   suffering  from  caste   under  which 

they  are  held  by  the  Brahmins  not  deserving  of 

sympathy?  and  is  it  not  worth  while  to  make  an 

effort  to  rid  them  of  the  clog  of  millions  of  evil 

spirits  ? 

And  the  myriad  of  idols  around  me,  and  the  legion  of  mutter- 
ing priests, 
The  revels  and  rites  unholy,  the  dark  unspeakable  feasts  ! 
What  have  they  wrung  from  the  silence? 

Hath  even  a  whisper  come 
Of  the  secret,  whence  and  whither  ?     Alas  ! 

For  the  gods  are  dumb.        c       \  t 

^  Sir  Alfred  Lyall. 

But  there  is  another  reason  of  political  charac- 
ter why  this  should  be  heeded. 

It  is  now  recognized  as  a  fact  that  one  of  the 
more  immediate  causes  of  the  mutiny  in  1857 
was  belief,  fostered  by  the  Brahmins,  that  the 
Hindoo  creeds  (I  cannot  call  them  religion)  were 
being  undermined  by  military  processes  such  as 


38  BENARES 

a  lubricating  mixture  for  preparing  cartridges 
made  up  of  suet  and  of  lard.  What  is  to  pre- 
vent these  same  Brahmins  from  attaching  im- 
portance to  other  harmless  mixtures  or  even 
articles  of  dress,  and  working  to  British  detri- 
ment the  new  superstition  they  may  invent  ? 

It  is  only  when  they  are  educated  to  higher 
levels  that  all  this  paganism  will  begin  to  dis- 
appear. 

Far  from  me  any  idea  of  want  of  regard  for  old 
traditions,  even  old  religions  primitively  founded 
on  nature,  the  elements,  or  on  inward  fears, 
but  my  ire  is  directed  against  a  teaching  by 
Brahmin  priests,  which  they  know  to  be  contrary 
to  their  sacred  books,  the  Vedas,  and  are  con- 
tinued solely  in  view  of  pecuniary  advantage. 

Pity  and  need 
Make  all  flesh  kin.     There  is  no  caste  in  blood 
Which  runneth  of  one  hue,  nor  caste  in  tears 
Which  trickle  salt  with  all ;  neither  comes  man 
To  birth  with  tilka-mark  stamped  on  the  brow 
Nor  sacred  thread  on  neck.     Who  doth  right  deed 
Is  twice  born,  and  who  doeth  ill  deeds  vile. 

"Light  of  Asia." 

Calcutta,  io  January. 

It  is  pleasant  to  be  in  a  place  which  savours  of 
so  much  British  wisdom,  owns  so  fine  a  Maidan, 
and  boasts  such  hospitable  residents. 

The  vice-regal  residence  is  a  palatial  building 
begun,  I  believe,  by  Lord  Wellesley,  and  wears  an 
imposing  aspect.    It  bears  also  the  impress  of  the 


AWAKENING  OF  THE    EAST  39 

great  administrators  that  have  in  the  course  of  a 
century  and  a  half  climbed  its  very  steep  steps, 
and  suggests  with  the  changes  they  have  wrought 
in  the  process  of  time,  those  other  changes  which 
will  soon  be  demanded  by  the  altered  condition 
of  the  East.  It  is  useless  to  shut  one's  eyes  to 
the  fact  that  although  what  some  are  pleased  to 
call  the  Yellow  Peril  has  no  existence  in  reality, 
for  the  present  at  least,  there  yet  are  unmistak- 
able signs  of  awakening  in  the  East,  and  in  this 
movement  India,  by  its  very  geographical  posi- 
tion, is  bound  to  play  a  part.  Asia,  generally,  is 
in  a  state  of  transformation,  hence  the  difficulty 
of  understanding  many  of  the  present  ways  of 
thought  and  action.  But  India,  as  part  of  Asia, 
gives  the  key-note  to  the  role  Great  Britain  will 
have  to  play  in  the  possible  drama  of  Eastern 
development,  just  as  India  has  been  the  raison 
d'etre  of  our  being  an  empire  at  all. 

The  emancipation  of  women,  to  take  a  single 
instance,  is  a  question  which  has  silently  taken 
root  throughout  the  East  wherein  Japan  leads  the 
way.  There  are  a  thousand  reasons  why  un- 
doubtedly the  movement  will  and  must  be  slow. 
It  will  even  be  kept  back  a  long  time  in  such 
parts  of  the  East  as  are  under  Mohammedan  sway ; 
but  it  has  begun  for  all  that,  and  will  not  be 
arrested  easily,  as  it  makes  for  a  change  in  what 
we  call  society,  and  society  is  pre-eminently  the 
realm  of  woman. 

Were  it  possible,  which  unfortunately  it  is  not, 


40  CALCUTTA 

the  Governor-General  of  India  should  always  be 
a  Prince  of  the  Royal  Reigning  House  of 
England,  and  not  an  ordinary  subject  of  the 
King  delegated  by  him  to  exercise  royal  preroga- 
tives in  his  name  :  for  such  a  subject,  however 
high  in  social  hierarchy,  cannot  impress  on  the 
natives  who  attend  his  courts,  that  they  are 
granted  the  standing  which  is  properly  theirs. 
But  to  talk  of  that  which  cannot  be  is  idle  talk. 
What  is  more  to  the  purpose  is  to  reflect  on  the 
one  great  desideratum,  viz.  the  creation  by 
degrees  of  an  Indian  society  in  which  the  better 
kind  of  native  Indians  would  learn  to  appreciate 
the  friend  rather  than  the  conqueror,  and  wherein 
the  English  element  would  find  the  means,  which 
it  does  not  at  present  possess,  of  knowing  more 
of  the  Indian  mind. 

That  the  administration  of  Indian  affairs  is 
in  good  hands  is  faint  praise  indeed,  for  I  believe 
it  to  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  travel 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  India 
without  being  struck  by  the  wisdom  which  has 
presided  over  the  government  of  this  enormous 
dependency.  It  is  the  one  thing  that  excites 
admiration  ;  and  so  convinced  am  I  of  its  excel- 
lence, that  I  firmly  hold  it  impossible  for  any 
alien  power  ever  to  supplant  the  British  rule,  so 
imbued  are  the  natives  themselves  with  its  equity, 
its  fairness,  and  its  firmness.  Men  are  not  satis- 
fied with  laws  and  regulations  only  where  ex- 
clusivism  shuts  out  the  majority  from  a  share  in 


INDIAN    SECRETIVENESS  41 

the  framing  of  these  beneficial  acts ;  but  are  the 
rulers  satisfied  with  the  continued  secretiveness  of 
the  Indian  proper?  While  we  are  teaching  him 
the  use  of  our  latest  guns  and  of  our  newest 
weapons,  is  he  becoming  more  communicative 
than  he  was  before  the  Mutiny?  Are  those 
native  chiefs  that  we  only  meet  (and  decorate) 
on  special  occasions  less  mysterious  than  the  rest 
of  their  Asiatic  race?  We  trusted  them  before 
the  Mutiny,  have  we  better  reason  to  believe  in 
them  now  ?  Could  any  Anglo-Indian  swear  to 
their  absolute  loyalty  to-day,  and  assure  us  that 
a  confederacy  of  princes  is  not  an  eventual  possi- 
bility should  circumstances  favour  it? 

It  is  not  for  me  to  answer  such  questions. 
They  only  occur  to  me,  because  as  an  English- 
man I  feel  that  we  are  still  strangers  on  Indian 
soil  ;  that  old  prejudices  have  not  died  out ; 
that  customs  have  not  been  assimilated  ;  that 
friendships  with  natives  have  not  been  en- 
couraged ;  and  that  *'  Kim  "  is  rushing  about 
as  actively  and  as  cunningly  as  ever  Rudyard 
Kipling  depicted  him  ;  while  Indian  chiefs  still 
experience  vain  regrets  at  the  sight  of  territory 
and  lands  once  owned  by  their  forefathers. 

.   .   .   from  my  country  driven 

With  the  last  of  my  hunted  band, 

My  home  to  another  given, 
On  a  foreign  soil  I  stand. 

We  have  been  long  enough  in  India  for  this 
feeling  not  to  exist  any  longer. 


42  CALCUTTA 

The  talk  of  the  day  is  all  upon  an  article 
entitled  ''Playing  with  Fire,"  by  Sir  John  and 
Sir  Richard  Strachey,  in  the  "National  Review." 
According  to  their  own  statement,  they  justly 
"claim  the  possessing  of  old  experience,"  having 
"  through  a  long  series  of  years  taken  part,  often 
in  close  association  with  each  other,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Government,"  then  proceed, 
on  the  strength  of  the  great  and  responsible  posi- 
tions they  have  held,  to  argue  against  the  King's 
Ministers  and  the  danger  of  a  military  despotism 
which  they  must  know  not  only  never  existed, 
but  could  not  under  British  constitution  ever  be 
maintained,  even  though  it  were  possible  for  a 
short  time  owing  to  exceptional  circumstances. 

It  was  painful  reading,  for  it  was  generously 
meant,  but  would  it  have  been  possible  with  a 
royal  prince  as  viceroy  ?  The  royal  name  cannot 
be  bandied  about  like  that  of  a  subject,  and 
native  princes  would  not  have  seen  the  suzerain 
authority  condemned  by  Anglo-Indian  gentlemen 
of  "old  experience"  pleading  in  public  against 
the  military  changes  considered  advisable  by 
military  authorities  of  equally  "old  experience." 

The  remarkable  display  of  enthusiastic  loyalty 
from  every  class  of  native  Indians  which  accom- 
panied the  triumphant  progress  through  India  of 
the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  testifies,  apart 
from  their  own  personal  merits,  to  the  genuine 
popularity  of  our  King  in  every  corner  of  his 
Indian  Empire,  and  vicariously  to  the  principles 


SOCIETY   IN    FORMATION  43 

of  administration  the  Sovereign  has  sanctioned 
from  time  to  time  on  the  advice  of  able  coun- 
cillors at  home  and  in  India.  What  additional 
strength  would  not  such  popularity  derive  from 
the  yearly  presence,  since  it  cannot  be  per- 
manent, of  a  prince  of  the  blood  empowered 
to  hold  courts  as  the  Vice-Regent  of  the  King- 
Emperor?  It  would  relieve  the  Viceroy  of  the 
duty  of  holding  a  Court ;  it  would  give  all  who 
attend  their  proper  rung  on  the  social  ladder, 
and  it  would  form  that  society  which  is  indis- 
pensable in  the  coming  events  of  Asiatic  trans- 
formation. 

I  have,  perhaps,  dwelt  too  much  on  this 
subject,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  travel  in  India 
without  experiencing  a  dual  sensation  which  can 
be  translated  by  a  feeling,  somewhat  undefined  I 
admit,  but  still  very  persistent,  that  the  more 
educated  masses  consider  the  time  arrived  when, 
thankful  for  many  administrative  blessings,  they 
would  like  to  be  better  understood,  in  other  words, 
to  be  shown  more  social  sympathy,  and  that  the 
classes,  to  use  a  word  in  Gladstonian  juxtaposi- 
tion, are  not  willing  to  give  up  old  prejudices. 
Lord  Ripon  is  not  yet  forgiven  for  his  "  Ilbert 
Bill,"  but  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  in  the  pass- 
ing of  years  his  reign  at  the  Viceregal  Lodge  will 
come  to  be  considered  the  epoch  from  which 
dates  the  willingness  of  native  Indians  to  forget 
the  conqueror  and  only  hail  their  friend. 


44  CEYLON 


Ceylon,  24  January. 

We  have  come  here  from  Madras  by  rail  and 
steamer,  travelHng  to  Tuticorin  through  very- 
cultivated  and,  in  parts,  very  beautiful  country. 
I  never  cease  admiring  the  love  of  Indians 
for  the  soil.  An  Indian  coolie  nurses  a  patch  of 
ground  as  a  fond  parent  would  nurse  a  child,  and 
will  not  mind  any  fatigue  in  the  process.  I  have 
watched  Indian  coolies  in  countries  where  the 
Indian  Government  have  permitted  their  emigra- 
tion till  a  bit  of  soil  round  their  huts  both  late  at 
night  and  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning,  as  if 
there  never  had  been  a  hot  day  spent  in  the  cane- 
fields,  or  any  prospect  of  recurrence  of  similar 
exhausting  labour  under  a  tropical  sun  ;  and  how 
thrifty  they  are  !  An  Indian  sirdar  told  me  that 
the  coolie  who  earns  one  shilling  a  day  always 
divides  his  earnings  into  three  parts  :  fourpence  is 
for  the  Savings  Bank,  to  accumulate  until  he  has 
enough  to  buy  a  piece  of  land  ;  fourpence  to  buy 
jewellery  for  his  woman-folk  ;  and  fourpence  for 
the  necessities  of  life.  Whenever  he  finds  it 
necessary  to  spend  more  on  himself  and  family 
than  fourpence  a  day,  he  never  touches  the  Sav- 
ings Bank  account,  but  sells  his  wife's  or  his  con- 
cubine's or  his  daughter's  bangles. 

Indian  coolies  have  been  the  saviours  of  many 
an  English  Crown  colony. 

Ceylon    is  considered  the   one   Crown  colony 


BOGAMBRAWEWA   TANK  45 

that  has  any  life  about  it,  and  the  most  beautiful 
among  the  many  beautiful  islands  that  form  part 
of  the  British  Empire.  It  lays  claim  to  be  the 
Pearl  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  as  Mauritius  calls 
itself  the  Star  and  the  Key  of  that  ocean,  and  it 
is  in  great  odour  of  sanctity,  for  it  possesses  the 
tooth  of  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  or  its  makeshift. 

It  boasts,  in  the  Peradeniya  Gardens  at  Kandy, 
of  a  botanical  resort  superior  to  that  in  Jamaica, 
and  only  second  to  Kew  in  usefulness.  It  vaunts 
its  Adam  Peak  as  the  equal  of  any  other  lofty 
eminence  in  the  world,  while  careful  to  add 
that  other  elevations  in  its  vicinity  rise  even 
higher  towards  the  skies  ;  and  it  is  not  insensible 
of  the  interest  that  attaches  to  the  Bogambra- 
wewa  Tank,  now  happily  filled  in  and  built  upon 
— I  believe  the  Tennis  Club  of  Kandy  has  its 
courts  upon  the  spot — as  the  place  where  the 
most  cruel  butchery  on  a  small  scale  was  ever 
perpetrated  by  the  ferocity  of  angered  man. 

As  the  story  goes,  or  more  probably  as  history 
records,  a  Kandyan  chieftain  having  deserted  his 
tyrant  suzerain,  and  gone  over  to  the  English  in 
1805,  that  fiend,  who  was  afterwards  defeated 
and  exiled,  revenged  himself  on  his  vassal's  wife 
and  children  by  first  incarcerating  them,  and 
next  by  putting  them  to  death.  His  mode  of 
proceeding  was  this.  When  the  mother  and  chil- 
dren were  dragged  before  him,  he  had  the  chil- 
dren's heads  cut  off  before  the  mother's  eyes  and 
placed  in  a  mortar;  then  forcing  a  pestle  into  the 


46  CEYLON 

mother's  hands,  obliged  her  to  pound  the  heads 
of  her  own  children  ;  after  which  diabolical  act, 
she  and  two  of  her  female  relatives  were  thrown 
alive  into  the  tank.  This  was  the  last  act  of  the 
last  king  of  a  race  that  had  reigned  over  Kandy 
more  than  two  thousand  years. 

There  is  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  all  the 
praise  lavished  upon  Ceylon  is  short  of  what  it 
deserves,  for  it  is  a  veritable  Garden  of  Eden, 
beautiful  in  its  entirety  and  graced  with  a  most 
bountiful  soil.  It  is  difficult  to  enumerate  all  its 
merits  ;  for,  whether  along  its  shores  under  a 
tropical  heat  which  is  tempered  by  delightful  sea 
breezes,  or  in  the  centre  of  the  island  at  Kandy, 
amidst  the  loveliest  scenery  imaginable  and  a 
lake  which  Como  might  envy ;  or  at  Nuwara 
Elya,  where  those  who  like  the  warmth  of  an 
English  fire-grate  can  indulge  their  fancy  all 
day,  there  is  nothing  but  an  appreciation  at 
every  step  of  the  charm  of  existence  in  so  accom- 
modating a  climate.  The  winding  railway  which 
runs  the  length  of  128  miles  to  reach  a  height  of 
only  5291  feet,  or  one  mile  in  a  perpendicular 
line  up  to  Nuwara-Elya,  vies  in  beauty  with  that 
from  La  Guayra  to  Caracas  or  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Denver,  commanding  at  every  turn 
unsurpassable  views  of  wondrous  mountain  ele- 
vations, deep  valleys,  precipitous  ravines,  and 
endless  vistas  of  flourishing  plantations,  whether 
of  rice  or  of  tea. 

But  even  superior  to  all  this  beauty  and  to  the 


ARYAN    PALI    LANGUAGE  47 

wealth  of  Ceylon's  botanical   marvels  rises  the 
pluck  of  its  planters. 

The  island  has  an  area  of  about  twenty-five 
thousand  square  miles  and  a  population  of  over 
three  and  a  half  millions,  of  whom  two  and  a  half 
millions  are  Cingalese,  the  pure-bred  Europeans 
numbering  only  six  thousand — so  says  Murray's 
Guide-Book  ;  but  the  statement  is  more  interest- 
ing when  it  is  not  so  barely  stated.  It  means 
that  in  this  mountainous  ''utmost  Indian  isle" 
there  are  135  inhabitants  per  square  mile  ;  that 
the  Cingalee  or  Cinhalese  are  a  branch  of  the 
Aryan  Pali  of  ancient  India,  whose  language 
Gautama  Buddha  spoke,  and  in  which  he  taught; 
and  that  hence  this  original  population  of  the 
island  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  do- 
minions of  the  Crown.  When  the  island  was 
conquered  in  1815  it  was  declared  that  ''the 
religion  of  Buddha  was  inviolable,  and  its  rights, 
ministers,  and  places  of  worship  were  to  be  main- 
tained and  protected."  The  same  words  occurred 
in  the  treaty  which  ceded  Mauritius  to  England 
in  1 8 10,  only  for  "  Buddha  religion  "  the  words 
"Catholic  religion  "  were  substituted.  Thus  we 
find  the  Sovereign  of  England  bound  solemnly 
by  treaty  to  uphold  and  protect  Catholicism  in 
one  part  of  his  domains  and  Buddhism  in  another, 
while  obliged  in  his  own  country  to  go  so  far  as 
to  wound,  in  his  coronation  oath,  the  deepest  feel- 
ings of  some  of  his  subjects  whose  creed  he  is 
bound  to   "maintain."     As  a  French  Canadian 


48  CEYLON 

expressed  it  to  me,  *'  Quelle  anomalie  !  et  que  je 
plains  le  pauvre  souverain  !  " 

But  what  about  the  six  thousand  Europeans  ? 
For  the  most  part  they  are  the  employers  of 
labour,  and  their  history  for  the  last  fifty  years  is 
one  which  calls  for  the  greatest  admiration  of  the 
courage  with  which  they  faced  calamity  and  the 
perseverance  with  which  they  conquered  all  diffi- 
culties. In  1877  Ceylon  planters  were  a  well-to- 
do  set  of  gentlemen,  who  supplied  the  markets 
with  the  best  coffee.  In  that  year  a  disease  of 
the  plant  made  them  reflect  that  it  was  not  wise 
to  have  all  their  eggs  in  one  basket,  and  they 
turned  to  tea  as  a  substitute.  In  1882  the  less 
provident  among  them  became  bankrupt,  and  the 
island's  prosperity  was  seriously  threatened.  But 
the  tea  plant  was  growing,  though  only  700,000 
lb.  could  be  exported.  In  1889  the  export 
had  risen  to  140,000,000  lb.,  and  the  crisis  was 
over.  Taught  by  experience,  they  have  now 
taken  rubber  seriously  in  hand,  knowing  that  it 
is  perhaps  the  only  article  of  commerce  for  which 
the  demand  is  in  excess  of  the  production  ;  and 
should  a  bad  time  come  again,  their  foresight, 
their  courage,  and  their  perseverance  will  once 
more  have  provided  the  remedy.  At  all  events, 
in  Governor  Sir  Henry  Blake  they  will  find  a 
mentor  and  friend  whenever  the  interests  of  the 
planters  require  a  wise  and  guiding  hand. 

On  the  last  night  of  our  stay  at  Colombo  we 
had  the  honour  of  meeting  at  dinner  at  Govern- 


GARTER   MISSION  49 

ment  House  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught,  who, 
with  a  distinguished  following/  is  going  to  Japan 
on  a  mission  of  particular  import  and  historical 
interest.  Our  King,  who  is  a  born  diplomatist, 
knows  how  to  choose  the  right  moment  for  be- 
stowing marks  of  appreciation,  and  is  the  first  to 
send  an  important  mission  of  courtesy  to  a  non- 
Christian  ruler.  If  Edward  III  is  watching  from 
the  grave  the  Order  of  the  Garter  on  its  way 
to  Japan,  he  must  feel  that,  if  times  are  changed 
since  his  day,  his  descendant  is  only  enhancing 
the  Order  he  founded  by  bestowing  it  on  so 
modest  and  glorious  a  sovereign  as  the  Mikado. 

*  See  Appendix  III. 


CHAPTER   III 

Penang           ,  ,  Value  of  British  administration. 

Singapore     .  .  Chinese  processions. 

Hong-Kong  .  .  British  Empire. 

Canton          .  .  Yelloto  Peril. 

Penang,  i  February. 

IT  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  coasted 
this  fifteen -mile -long'  island  from  its  peak, 
nearly  three  thousand  feet  high,  to  George  Town, 
at  the  entrance  of  the  strait  which  separates  it 
from  the  Malay  Peninsula  ;  and  we  could  see  the 
inhabitants  flocking  in  numbers  to  the  quays  in 
expectation  of  beholding  the  King's  nephew  and 
greeting  him  with  lively  feelings  of  genuine 
loyalty. 

A  very  picturesque  arch  had  been  erected,  and 
was  of  sufficient  depth  to  screen  the  royal  party 
and  the  welcomers  from  the  effects  of  a  tropical 
sun,  had  we  arrived  earlier  in  the  day  :  all  of 
which  argued  much  sense  on  the  part  of  the 
"areca-nut"  people,  for  that,  I  understand,  is  the 
meaning-  of  Pulo-Penang  cut  short  into  Penang. 
The  reception  was  altogether  a  success.  It  was 
not  too  long",  nor  tiring,  nor  elaborate,  nor  pre- 
tentious,   and    lost    nothing    in    merit  for  being 

genuine  and  simple. 

50 


GEORGE   TOWN  51 

The  drive  through  George  Town  revealed  to  us 
for  the  first  time  the  picturesque  booths  and 
dresses  of  Chinese  tradespeople,  and  we  felt 
ourselves  in  an  atmosphere  of  bustle  and  activity 
that  argued  well  for  the  prosperity  of  an  island 
which  forms,  with  Malacca  and  Singapore,  the 
British  colony  known  as  the  Straits  Settlements. 

It  is  an  old  colony,  older  than  Singapore,  and 
from  it  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  set  forth  to  advise 
the  Governor-General  of  India  to  take  Singa- 
pore, the  key  of  the  East,  before  the  Dutch  at 
Java  could  seize  so  important  a  strategic  point. 
I  understand  that  the  census  of  1901  revealed  in 
this  island,  which  is  the  size  of  the  Isle  of  Man, 
a  population  of  over  160,000  inhabitants,  not- 
withstanding that  the  death  rate  exceeds  the 
birth  rate  yearly.  This  speaks  well  for  the 
island  which  induces  an  immigration  so  steady 
and  so  constant,  but  it  is  another  proof  of  that 
confidence  which  British  administration  always 
inspires. 

When  Governor  of  Mauritius  some  years  since, 
I  once  asked  a  member  of  Council,  a  Frenchman 
in  all  but  his  being  a  native  of  the  island  and 
hence  a  British  subject  by  birth,  to  explain  to 
me  the  hostility  so  evident  in  the  local  press,  as 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  Creoles,  to  all  that  was 
British.  He  stopped  me  at  the  word  *'all,"  and 
said,  "There  you  make  a  mistake.  We  are  the 
descendants  of  old  French  settlers  ;  we  love  our 
motherland,  her  language,  her  customs,  and  even 


52  SINGAPORE 

her  faults  :  hence  we  sympathize  with  her  in  all 
that  concerns  her  differences  with  other  nations. 
That  is  in  the  blood,  and  blood  is  a  strong  fluid. 
You  must  not  therefore  expect  us  to  throw  sym- 
pathetic France  over  for  unsympathetic  England 
when  there  is  a  difference  between  them,  but 
British  administration  is  a  different  thing.  When 
the  two  countries  agree  and  patriotic  calls  are 
not  made,  there  is  no  Mauritian  who,  had  he  the 
option,  would  give  up  the  benefit  of  living  under 
a  British  administration  for  the  vexatious  and 
interfering  ways  of  French  bureaucracy."  These 
may  not  be  the  actual  words  used  by  my  friend, 
but  they  contain  accurately  the  gist  of  his  re- 
marks clothed,  perhaps,  in  less  forcible  language 
than  he  used.  I  believe  it  is  the  same  every- 
where else,  and  the  conclusion  that  British 
colonial  administration  is  a  very  popular  in- 
strument derives  strength  from  the  fact  that 
Britishers,  as  men,  are  by  no  means  sympathetic 
to  .   .   .   well,  let  us  say  .   .   .   non-Britishers. 

Singapore,  3  February. 

This  land-locked  and  magnificent  harbour  is 
prepared  to  give  Prince  Arthur  a  royally  loyal 
welcome,  and  altogether  ignores  that,  born  in 
latitude  52°,  the  young  Prince  must  find  his 
uniform,  or  indeed  any  clothes,  somewhat  cum- 
bersome in  latitude  1°  20'.  We  have  also  arrived 
somewhat  before  we  were  expected,  so  the  uni- 


SIR   STAMFORD    RAFFLES  53 

forms  have  to  be  worn  a  longer  time  than  actually 
needed.  General  Kelly  Kenny  does  not  mind  it, 
nor  does  Admiral  Sir  E.  Seymour  ;  even  Lord 
Redesdale  seems  happy  in  his  close-fitting  diplo- 
matic dress — a  ridiculous  hot  remnant  of  barbaric 
England,  which  it  is  hoped  will  soon  be  modified 
and  made  more  appropriate  to  the  countries  to 
which  diplomats  are  sent ;  but  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  Garter  Mission  do  not  seem  at  their 
ease.  No  wonder  :  the  heat  is  ninety  under  the 
awning,  and  the  usual  north-east  wind  is  silent ! 

Singapore  owes  its  British  existence  to  Sir 
Stamford  Raffles  and  its  commercial  rise  to  that 
same  remarkable  Governor,  who  insisted  on  its 
being  a  free  port  so  as  to  thwart  the  Dutch  ;  but 
what  urged  him  to  its  acquisition  was  its  geo- 
graphical position,  as  a  sentinel  between  the  Far 
East  and  the  West,  and  its  half- way -house 
character  between  Japan  and  India.  He  called 
it  *'his  political  child,"  because  he  had  advised 
the  Marquess  of  Hastings,  Governor-General  of 
India,  to  annex  it.  So  says  History,  but  I  find 
another  account  in  a  French  book  of  travels. 

Singapore,  according  to  this  account,  was  part 
of  the  kingdom  of  Johore  and  governed  by  a 
vassal  of  the  Sultan  of  that  place.  Sir  Stamford 
illegally  bought  Singapore  of  the  vassal,  who  had 
no  authority  to  sell,  having  previously  made  sure 
of  his  bargain  by  planting  the  Union  Jack,  much 
*'to  the  vexation  of  the  tigers  the  only  witnesses." 
In  the  meanwhile,  however,  Singapore  had  again 


54  SINGAPORE 

been  sold  ;  this  time  to  the  Dutch  by  the  Sultan 
himself;  but  undisturbed  by  such  an  occurrence, 
Sir  Stamford  seized  the  person  of  the  vassal, 
whose  name  was  Hassan  Shah,  caused  him  to  be 
proclaimed  sultan  instead  of  his  Suzerain,  made 
him  again  sign  a  deed  of  cession — and  as  the 
author  writes:  ''Voila  pourquoi  Singapour  est 
anglais."  He  is  nearer  the  truth,  however, 
when  he  exclaims  :  "II  nous  faudrait  un  Singa- 
pour Francais,  car  notre  coeur  se  serre  en  trouvant 
partout  des  Gibraltar."^ 

Singapore  is  a  Gibraltar.  It  is  very  powerfully 
armed  and  defended,  and  it  has  what  most 
fortresses  do  not  possess — a  remarkably  fine 
botanical  garden.  It  has  also  a  very  mixed 
population  and  some  very  childish  Chinese 
among  them. 

The  Prince  was  favoured  by  an  exhibition  of 
childishness  in  the  course  of  the  evening  which 
must  have  astounded  him  not  a  little.  For  two 
mortal  hours  a  crowd,  two  miles  long  at  least, 
paraded  before  His  Royal  Highness  in  the 
grounds  of  Government  House,  carrying  paper 
lanterns  or  paper  pictures  or  paper  cars  or  paper 
dragons,  fish,  reptiles,  Heaven  knows  what  else, 
and  considered  their  performance  a  most  success- 
ful one  because  it  had  cost  20,000  rupees,  and 
had  lasted  longer  than  any  previous  effort  at 
similar  balderdash. 

What    was    really    striking    was    the    orderly 

'  De  Beauvoir,  Java  Siam. 


««STET   PROCESSUS"  55 

crowds  and  the  immunity  from  fire  which  indi- 
rectly testified  to  the  soberness  of  these  orientals. 

It  may  be  urged  that  such  processions  are  not 
more  foolish  than  the  Lord  Mayor's  procession 
in  London  or  the  Guild  Exhibitions  in  the  Low 
Countries.  Maybe  ;  but  if  it  only  comes  to  a 
question  of  degree,  the  main  fact  remains  undis- 
puted.     It  is  infantine  and  silly. 

Was  it  not  Sir  Arthur  Helps  who  justly  said 
that  *'the  world  will  tolerate  many  vices,  but  not 
their  diminutives  "  ? 

It  would  be  interesting  also  to  know  what  is 
the  derivation  of  the  word  procession.  Does  it 
by  any  chance  come  from  the  Latin  "processus"? 
If  so,  I  would  recommend  the  record,  by  consent, 
of  parties  for  a  stay  of  proceedings,  *'stet  pro- 
cessus." 

Hong-Kong,  9  February. 

The  ''sun  that  never  sets  on  His  Majesty's 
dominions"  shone  in  all  its  glory  as  the  "  Don- 
gola"  steamed  into  Hong-Kong  harbour,  which 
looked  quite  beautiful  in  its  gala  dress,  so  loyally 
put  on  in  honour  of  the  Royal  Prince,  whose 
gracious  person  our  ship  has  carried  hither  in 
safety,  and  whose  modest,  kindly  ways  each  one 
of  us  will  miss,  though  every  heart  will  inwardly 
accompany  him  with  best  wishes  on  his  further 
outward  journey. 

I  wonder  why,  in  our  desire  to  mark  our  affec- 
tionate attachment  to  the  Royal  Family,  we  con- 


56  HONG-KONG 

sider  it  necessary  to  try  their  physical  strength 
to  the  utmost,  and  spare  them  no  fatigue  or  give 
them  any  sort  of  rest  or  leisure  or  liberty. 

What  with  official  receptions  of  civil,  naval, 
and  military  people  on  board  before  being  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  ship,  civic  attentions  on  land- 
ing— a  garden  party  at  Government  House  after 
lunch  and  the  presentations  thereat — and  finally 
a  very  grand  dinner  of  115  colonial  celebrities 
in  the  evening,  I  fear  Prince  Arthur  must  have 
sighed  for  the  rest  which  comes  after  good  work. 
Whether  he  got  it  at  midnight  is  rather  a  hope 
than  a  conviction. 

All  that  is  interesting  about  Hong-Kong  can 
be  gathered  from  guides  and  volumes  ad  hoc. 
What  most  struck  me  were  the  aptitude  of  the 
British  race  to  make  the  most  of  a  treeless  rock — 
the  power  of  a  Chinese  coolie  to  supplant  a 
horse — and  may  I  add,  without  any  sense  of 
future  favours,  the  luck  of  the  island  in  possess- 
ing an  able  and  amiable  Pro-Consul  ?  All  three 
impressions  can  lead  to  essays  on  national  char- 
acteristics, human  possibilities,  and  individual 
influences,  but  I  should  only  tire  all  parties  with- 
out benefiting  any,  besides  recapitulating  what 
is  well  known.  But  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
the  administrative  ability  of  British-born  subjects, 
and  the  colonizing  power  of  the  British  race,  are 
so  readily  admitted  by  ourselves  that  we  do  not 
stop  to  inquire  into  its  meaning. 

Perhaps   that   meaning   will    become    evident 


BRITISH    EMPIRE  57 

when  we  realize  that  the  British  Colonial  Empire 
comprises  no  less  than  forty-five  distinct  and 
independent  governments,  besides  a  number  of 
scattered  dependencies  under  the  dominion  or 
protection  of  the  Sovereign,  and  vast  territories 
controlled  by  British  companies  ;  that,  including 
India,  the  Empire  extends  over  11  millions 
of  square  miles,  or  ninety-one  times  the  area  of 
the  Mother  Country,  or  close  on  a  quarter  of  the 
entire  land  surface  of  the  earth,  is  peopled  by 
some  400  million  of  inhabitants  out  of  an 
estimated  total  of  1500  millions  ;  that  the  propor- 
tion of  natives  to  British-born  or  British-des- 
cended subjects,  is  ten  to  one,  if  not  more,  and 
that  all  these  are  governed  by  some  fifty 
governors,  or  governors-general,  representing 
the  Sovereign  under  constitutions  suited  to  the 
degree  of  political  education  in  the  dependencies 
of  the  Crown.  Ancient  Rome  in  its  most 
glorious  days  has  nothing  so  fine  to  offer  for  the 
admiration  of  posterity.  It  may  be  compara- 
tively easy  to  acquire  such  vast  territories  ;  it  is 
another  matter  to  preserve  them  ;  and  it  speaks 
much  for  the  ability  of  our  pro-consuls  and  the 
wisdom  of  colonial  secretaries  at  home  that 
throughout  this  vast  dominion  there  should  be 
so  little  discontent,  indeed,  so  much  peace  and 
quiet. 

No  wonder  Mr.  Chamberlain,  than  whom, 
without  making  any  invidious  distinction,  it  can 
be  justly  said  that  no  one  at  the  Colonial  Oflice 


58  HONG-KONG 

ever  grasped  colonial  questions  with  such  a 
master-hand,  was  naturally  struck  with  the  capaci- 
ties of  such  a  scattered  Empire  for  greater  union 
with  the  Mother  Country  ;  and  no  wonder  he 
sought  to  knit  its  component  parts  together  by 
affording  them  advantages  which  they  could  en- 
joy in  common,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  foreigner. 
It  was  nothing  more  than  an  endeavour  to  put 
into  practice  the  well-known  axiom  of  '*  charity 
begins  at  home." 

Far  be  from  me  any  desire  to  be  controversial, 
but  in  common  justice  to  a  great  statesman  it 
must  be  allowed  that  it  was  a  noble  thought  and 
a  great  conception.  That  it  has  not  at  once  met 
with  universal  acceptance  is  only  due  to  its  being 
premature.  Canada  and  South  Africa  have  to 
treble  their  population  before  they  can  provide 
markets  in  lieu  of  those  which  a  new  tariff  may 
lose  for  us  abroad,  and  owing  to  the  want  of 
water  Australia  does  not  give  hope  of  a  large 
population.  Hence  practical  England  has  under- 
stood that  for  the  present  what  is  is  for  the  best 
in  the  best  of  worlds  ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to 
foresee  that  in  a  few  years,  if  Canada  and  South 
Africa  remain  British,  Mr.  Chamberlain's  ideas 
will  be  accepted,  and  his  statesmanly  foresight 
recognized  by  all. 

That  day,  I  trust,  will  likewise  see  a  change 
in  the  Cobden  Club.  The  present  Conservative 
spirit  of  that  society  is  apparently  such  as  actually 
to  refuse  to  their  dead  Liberal  founder  a  modicum 


COBDEN   CLUB  59 

of  common  sense  by  prejudging  his  action  under 
circumstances  different  from  those  of  his  day, 
and  unkindly  to  make  out  that  he  was  an  obsti- 
nate and  one-sided  economist.  I  protest  against 
this  view,  which  is  not  EngHsh  in  the  first  place, 
and  is  inconsistent  with  Cobden's  own  conduct 
in  the  tariff  treaty  with  France,  which  he  per- 
sonally negotiated,  though  contrary  to  his  views 
as  to  tariffs  in  general ;  but  I  suppose  : — 

Jedes  Thierchen 
Hat  sein  Plaisirchen. 

It  would  be  ungracious  to  leave  Hong-Kong 
without  a  word  of  thanks  to  its  exceptionally 
hospitable  society.  From  the  Governor  and  the 
Chief  Justice  (Sir  Matthew  Nathan  and  Sir 
Francis  Pigott)  to  the  members  of  the  club  ; 
from  the  high  military  and  naval  authorities  to 
their  subordinate  officers  ;  from  the  civilian  mag- 
nates and  grandees  of  commerce  or  shipping 
who  are  usually  so  stiff  to  the  more  humble  and 
less  fortunate  among  them,  there  pervades  a 
courtesy  as  refreshing  to  record  as  it  is  pleasant 
to  remember  the  excellence  of  their  hospitality. 
If  they  do  not  go  so  far  as  the  Japanese  in 
inquiring  whether  the  "honourable  digestion" 
will  not  suffer,  at  least  they  take  care  that  the 
"august  palate"  will  not  be  displeased. 

But  the  weather  is  not  accommodating,  and 
I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  towering  peak 
is  answerable.      It  stands  very  high  as  a  menace 


6o  HONG-KONG 

to  such  rain-clouds  or  sea-mists  as  may  wish  to 
overwhelm  it,  and  invites  the  well-to-do  to  build 
villas  on  its  summit  so  as  to  enjoy  the  matchless 
view.  But  the  peak's  presumption  is  really  too 
severely  punished  ;  for,  except  in  autumn,  when 
I  am  told  the  weather  is  perfect  and  the  view 
incomparable,  I  should  say  it  is  better  to  sit  in 
an  arm-chair  on  the  Praya  level  in  a  rain-proof 
house  and  dream  of  possibilities  than  to  crawl 
up  a  perpendicular  wall  like  a  fly  and  shiver  in 
a  dense  and  soaking  fog  upon  the  higher  ground. 

Excepting  the  day  of  his  landing,  it  rained 
all  the  time  the  Prince  was  at  Hong-Kong,  and 
provokingly  interfered  with  the  success  of  the 
race-week  in  the  Happy  Valley,  to  which,  how- 
ever, His  Royal  Highness  could  not,  on  account 
of  his  mourning,  lend  his  hoped-for  patronage. 

I  have  heard  Hong-Kong  compared  to  many 
places  which  it  does  not  in  the  least  resemble, 
but  it  brought  Carlsbad  more  to  my  memory  than 
any  other  place,  and  I  think  it  is  because  the 
cluster  of  banks  in  the  main  thoroughfare  of 
Victoria  at  the  foot  of  the  rock  reminds  me  of 
Pupp's  celebrated  establishment  in  that  Bohemian 
watering  resort.  Apropos  of  hydropathic  resorts, 
why  is  it  that  the  Germans  have  no  other  word 
than  bath  ?  Everything  is  ''Bad,"  and  yet  a  bath 
is  not  their  primary  object,  and  besides  it  leads 
to  awkward  mistakes  in  translation. 

A  German  lady,  speaking  in  English,  informed 
me    seriously    on    one    occasion    that   she    knew 


PEARL    RIVER  6i 

Offenbach  very  well.  "I,"  she  said,  "a  fort- 
night in  same  bath  with  Offenbach  have  been  !  " 
I  modestly  wished  she  had  spoken  German, 
when  **vierzehn  Tagen  mit  Offenbach  im  selben 
Bad  gewesen  "  would  not  have  sounded  so  un- 
conventional. 

Canton,  15  February. 

This  is  quite  the  dirtiest,  most  strong-scented, 
populous,  narrow -pathed,  and  yet  fascinating 
place  imaginable.  The  journey  hither  up  the 
Pearl  River  —  the  East  can  always  clothe  its 
squalor  with  poetical  garments — is  replete  with 
historical  incidents,  recalling  British  valour  some- 
times in  the  service  of  very  bad  causes  ;  and 
the  fleets  of  Chinese  junks,  with  their  curious 
population,  are  a  never-ending  source  of  interest. 
Our  captain,  Mr.  C.  V.  Lloyd,  is  the  author 
of  a  pamphlet,  entitled  ''A  Book  for  the  Globe 
Trotter,"  which  deals  ''seriatim  "  with  the  banks 
of  the  Canton  River,  and  the  events  they  have 
witnessed  whenever  fogs  have  lifted  in  the  course 
of  a  century. 

He  does  not  deal,  however,  with  the  question 
most  interesting  at  the  present  time,  viz.  whether 
the  so-called  Yellow  Peril  is  a  reality  or  an  illu- 
sion. So  much  difference  of  opinion  exists 
among  people  who  should,  by  their  knowledge 
and  experience,  be  able  to  guide  and  instruct  the 
public,  that  one  naturally  hesitates  to  express 
any  personal  view  ;  but  if,  as  it  is  said,  Canton  is 


62  CANTON 

an  epitome  of  China,  I  think  a  sight  of  Canton 
is  enough  to  dispel,  for  a  while  at  least,  any 
immediate  fears  on  that  score.  We  did  observe 
one  smart  Chinese  officer,  and  we  had  a  cere- 
monious tea  with  a  very  civil  Chinese  colonel, 
who  permitted  us  to  watch  a  few  painstaking- 
Japanese  cavalry  officers  teaching  cadets  how  to 
ride  ;  but  the  pleasing  spectacle  was  not  such  as 
to  warrant  our  belief  in  a  martial  spirit,  born  of 
ambition,  while  the  busy,  thriving  population 
could  not  but  impress  one  with  the  conviction 
that  the  more  peaceful  ways  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry are  those  that  find  most  favour  with  the 
"sons  of  heaven." 

It  would  be  rash  to  suppose  that  this  nation 
of  merchants  cannot  rise  to  deeds  of  military 
prowess,  for  have  we  not  ourselves,  *'a  nation  of 
shopkeepers,"  shown  that  we  can  turn  our  shops 
into  arsenals  and  our  shopmen  into  splendid 
fighting  material  ?  But  a  peril  supposes  much, 
and  a  Yellow  Peril  would  seem  to  point  to 
political  forces  which,  as  yet,  do  not  stand  re- 
vealed, and  a  spirit  of  militarism  which,  however 
much  it  may  be  rampant  in  the  north  of  China, 
is  certainly  not  discernible  elsewhere  in  over- 
populated  China  proper. 

The  Yellow  Peril  was  not  first  started  in  Great 
Britain.  Its  mention  savours  of  political  man- 
oeuvres abroad,  about  as  creditable  to  its  origina- 
tors as  the  distortion  for  party  purposes  during 
the    last    General    Election    of   the    meaning    of 


COOLIE    IMMIGRATION  63 

Chinese  immigration  in  South  Africa,  with  this 
difference,  that  the  cry  of  Yellow  Peril  was  at 
least  intended  as  a  rallying-cry  to  the  West 
against  supposed  coming  dangers  in  the  East, 
whereas  that  of  the  re-establishment  of  slavery 
makes  for  mischief  and  bloodshed. 

Why  were  not  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone accused  of  wishing  to  re-establish  slavery  ? 
They,  at  least,  had  a  prior  right  over  Mr.  Balfour 
to  be  so  accused.  It  was  Lord  Aberdeen, 
Colonial  Secretary  in  Lord  Melbourne's  Adminis- 
tration, who,  in  1834,  first  sanctioned  Indian 
coolie  emigration  to  Mauritius  ;  and  it  was  Mr. 
Gladstone,  in  1845,  who  first  approved  of  the  in- 
troduction of  Chinese  coolie  labour  into  British 
Guiana.  A  Chinese,  whose  brother  is  on  the 
Rand,  has  told  me  that  *Miis  brother  is  perfectly 
happy,"  and  writes  "that  he  never  wishes  to  see 
China  again."  No  wonder!  The  conditions  of 
emigration  from  India,  or  from  alien  countries, 
to  our  colonies  weigh  so  heavily  on  employers 
of  labour  in  British  dependencies,  where  the 
British  workman  is  either  physically  unable,  or  in 
most  cases  unwilling  to  earn  a  wage,  that  the 
masters  are  more  slaves  than  their  coolies,  being 
bound  by  very  exacting  laws  to  all  the  duties  of 
protection  both  of  life  and  of  the  well-being  of 
every  coolie  under  their  charge. 

How  singular  it  is,  and  sometimes  how  painful, 
to  realize  that  being  a  great  nation  gifted  with 
so  many  sterling  qualities  and  generous  impulses, 


64  CANTON 

we  should  so  often  spoil  our  best  acts  by  precipi- 
tate action  !  The  abolition  of  slavery  is  an  in- 
stance. It  was  decreed  in  a  day,  and  it  was  only 
on  the  morrow  that  we  realized  its  immediate 
effect,  viz.  the  refusal  to  work  by  the  native 
classes  born  to  the  soil.  Then  as  a  matter  of 
course  came  the  cry  for  hands  to  till  that  soil, 
and  the  obligation  to  get  help  from  over-popu- 
lated countries  so  as  to  assist  our  crippled 
colonies  in  their  struggle  for  existence.  The 
precipitate  action  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
decreeing  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  1833  with- 
out providing  for  the  land  being  properly  worked 
is  the  cause  why  immigration  became  necessary, 
and  is  the  origin  of  coolie  immigration.  It  was, 
in  fact,  a  fatal  result  of  the  premature  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  it  is  nothing  short  of  wilful  ignor- 
ance to  shut  one's  eyes  to  the  consequences  of 
Earl  Grey's  immature  Act  of  7  August,  1833. 

It  will  not  be  an  altogether  pleasant  day  when 
countries  like  India  and  China,  with  their  vast 
populations,  turn  their  backs  on  our  demands  for 
hands  to  work  in  fields  which  the  natives  of  our 
colonies  refuse  to  till,  or  in  mines  which  the 
British  unemployed  refuse  to  enter,  and  if  Mr. 
Putman  Weale  is  right  it  would  seem  that  "China 
is  beginning  to  be  moved  by  strange  and  unaccus- 
tomed feelings,"  that  "the  whole  population  is 
affected  by  some  signs  of  Westernism,"  and  that 
"the  Chinese  Government  is  much  disturbed 
thereat." 


FLOATING   SUBURB  65 

I  do  not  pretend  to  fathom  these  mysterious 
warning's  ;  all  I  know  is  that  our  delightful  host, 
Mr.  Lay,  Consul  for  the  United  States,  was 
much  perturbed,  on  the  evening-  of  our  stay  at 
his  pretty  and  most  hospitable  house,  by  the 
sudden  disappearance  of  every  one  of  his  ser- 
vants ;  and  attributed  the  household  defection 
to  America's  treatment  of  the  Chinese  on  that 
Western  Continent,  until,  next  morning,  they  all 
reappeared  to  his  relief  and  our  comfort  ;  that 
our  guide  exhibited  in  the  temples  which  we 
visited  a  scepticism  in  regard  to  the  gods  before 
whose  shrines  he  ought  to  have  prayed,  and  to 
whose  effigies  he  pointed  with  a  cane  in  a  manner 
which  was  almost  painfully  Western  ;  and  that 
when  we  entered  a  shop  bent  on  some  purchase 
or  another,  a  degree  of  intelligent  appreciation 
of  our  capacities  as  buyers  was  shown  that  in- 
finitely surpassed  the  acuteness  of  European 
tradespeople. 

If  these  are  signs  of  progress  such  as  denote 
the  coming  peril,  I  think  there  is  good  hope  of 
its  still  being  far  distant. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  Canton  is  its  river 
traffic  and  the  skill  displayed  by  its  aquatic 
population  in  manoeuvring  the  countless  sampans 
that  ply  on  these  waters.  These  people,  whom 
Sir  Thomas  Wade  has  felicitously  called  ''the 
floating  suburb  of  Canton,"  have  been  born  and 
bred  in  their  boats.  A  cruel  law  decreed  genera- 
tions ago   that  they  could  not  possess  land,   so 


66  CANTON 

they  take  possession  of  the  water,  and  have  a 
language  of  their  own.  Their  most  striking 
characteristic  appears  to  be  subserviency  to  luck 
and  all  that  makes  or  is  believed  to  make  for 
it.  One  trait  was  told  us  that  unfolds  many 
tales  :  A  father  at  the  stern  sees  his  son  at  the 
helm  helping  a  drowning  man  ;  he  rushes  up 
to  the  boy  and  stops  his  charitable  endeavour 
by  the  remark,  **What!  do  you  want  by  saving 
this  unlucky  man  to  bring  his  bad  luck  on  your 
father's  boat?"  Evidently  charity  begins  at 
home  in  the  Celestial  Empire. 


CHAPTER    IV 

Shintoism — Buddhism — Missionary  Fields 

At  Sea,  25  February. 

IF  only  our  ship  would  not  be  so  fond  of 
dipping  her  nose  in  the  sea,  and  would  allow 
her  stern  to  be  more  in  the  water,  we  should  make 
more  progress,  and  the  screw  would  revolve  less 
in  the  air,  to  the  detriment  of  our  speed.  It  is 
one  of  those  disagreeable  stormy  days  which  in- 
fluence mind  and  body,  and  make  one  long  for 
quick  arrival  in  port,  even  where  there  is  no 
desire  for  hasty  retreat  to  one's  cabin. 

I  have  been  for  the  last  six  weeks  devoting  my 
attention  to  the  question  whether  the  interesting 
people  I  am  about  to  visit  have  a  religion  at  all, 
or  whether,  having  too  many,  they  elect  to  have 
none  ;  as  I  wish  to  ascertain,  for  my  own  per- 
sonal satisfaction,  whether  the  wonderful  success 
of  Christian  missionaries  in  the  sixteenth  century 
is  likely  to  recur  again,  and,  if  so,  whether  the 
excellently  intentioned  missionaries  of  this  age 
have  learnt  the  value  of  tact  in  the  course  of  four 
centuries.  From  the  pages  of  such  authorities  as 
Lafcadio    Hearn,   W.   G.   Aston,   and    especially 

67 


68  SHINTOISM 

Basil  H.  Chamberlain,  whose  volume  entitled 
*' Things  Japanese  "  should  be  the  travelling  bre- 
viary of  all  who  visit  the  wonderful  East,  I 
have  gathered  that,  on  the  whole,  missionaries 
would  have  a  fair  field  in  Japan,  both  to  sow  and 
reap,  if  they  could  only  bring  themselves  to  exer- 
cise in  their  dealings  with  the  natives  that  spirit 
of  charity  which  is  the  basis  of  Christianity. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  foundations  of  Shin- 
toism  and  of  Buddhism  and  of  all  sects  whether 
Tendai,  Shingon,  and  Zen  (which  are  Chinese),  or 
Monto  and  Nichiren  (which  are  Japanese),  rest  so 
little  on  an  intelligible  conception  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  that  intelligent  Japanese  must  of  necessity 
hail  with  pleasure  a  religion  which,  while  pre- 
paring them  for  a  nobler  fate  than  annihilation, 
which  is  practically  what  Nirvana  signifies,  will 
not  unsettle  them  in  their  so-styled  worship  of 
the  dead  for  whose  ultimate  happiness  they  alone 
maintain  a  semblance  of  religion  now. 

Is  not  that  so-called  worship  of  the  dead  also 
the  one  solid  ground  upon  which  Christian 
missionaries  can  find  a  footing  to  raise  the 
Japanese  people  from  a  superstitious  belief 
which,  though  it  cannot  be  called  pagan,  is 
perilously  near  it? 

Instead  of  condemning  a  worship  which,  when 
analysed,  is  nothing  more  than  a  veneration  of 
loved  ones  departed  and  quite  as  much  in  vogue 
in  Europe  as  in  the  East,  missionaries  might 
with    advantage    before   they    are    permitted    to 


WORSHIP   OF  THE   DEAD  69 

set  forth  on  a  journey  to  the  East  be  taught 
not  to  treat  with  contempt  the  traditional  habits 
and  prejudices  of  a  people  whose  whole  social 
existence  is  bound  up  in  tradition  ;  and,  in  the 
case  of  Japanese,  whose  national  life  is  based  on 
the  continuation  of  families  throughout  centuries, 
and  in  whose  country  the  adoption  of  children 
has  been  actually  legally  recognized  for  the  single 
purpose  of  safeguarding  the  rights  of  the  dead, 
so  that  they  may  be  respected  and  prayed  for  by 
their  descendants.  A  little  consideration  would 
save  many  silly  martyrdoms  and  much  public  in- 
justice. Nor  would  it  seemingly  do  them  much 
harm  to  learn  that  the  word  worship  does  not  at  all 
imply  a  heathenish  rite  in  the  East,  any  more  than 
putting  flowers  on  a  tomb,  or  a  photograph  in  a 
silver  frame,  or  a  lock  of  hair  in  a  medallion  does 
in  the  West.  The  Japanese  inculcate  above  all 
love  and  respect  for  authority.  This  authority 
does  not  die  with  those  who  are  dead,  but  con- 
tinues to  be  loved  and  respected  in  death.  It  is 
at  least  a  beautiful  continuity  of  love,  and  what 
Christian  tenet  is  there  which  condemns  parents 
mourning  for  their  children  or  children  for  their 
parents  ?  Why  should  what  exists  in  the  West 
in  that  respect  be  condemned  in  the  East  ? 

If  the  manner  of  honouring  the  dead  offends, 
let  time  and  reason  and  education  point  out  the 
unreasonableness,  for  instance,  of  matter,  in  the 
shape  of  tea  and  rice,  being  offered  to  the  im- 
material spirit.     Our  own  Christian  theology  has 


70  SHINTOISM 

some  difficulty  in  reconciling  a  burning  fire  as  a 
punishment  with  an  immaterial  soul  which  cannot 
burn,  and  hence  is  fireproof. 

In  dealing  with  the  Japanese,  who  believe 
that  death  is  not  the  end  of  all  things,  and  that 
life  in  this  world,  which  has  begun  in  another, 
has  experienced  a  series  of  transformations  which 
they  do  not  claim  to  understand,  it  is  surely 
enough  for  a  Christian  missionary  to  find  a  gentle 
means  of  setting  them  right  without  bluntly 
declaring  them  to  be  wrong  :  for  does  not  the 
same  idea  find  favour  in  Europe?  Has  not 
Butler,  in  the  "Analogy  of  Religion,"  said  that 
'*many  things  prove  it  palpably  absurd  to  con- 
clude that  we  shall  cease  to  be  at  death,  and 
particular  analogies  do  most  sensibly  show  us 
that  there  is  nothing  to  be  thought  strange  in 
our  being  to  exist  in  another  state  of  life.  That 
we  are  now  living  beings  affords  a  strong  prob- 
ability that  we  shall  continue  so  unless  there  is 
some  positive  ground  (and  there  is  none  from 
reason  or  analogy)  to  think  death  will  destroy 
us." 

Chateaubriand,  in  his  *'  Genie  du  Chris- 
tianisme,"  asks  '*  whence  comes  the  forcible 
notion  we  form  of  death  ?  Could  a  few  grains 
of  sand  decrease  our  homage?  Certainly  not. 
We  respect  the  ashes  of  our  ancestors  because  a 
secret  voice  tells  us  that  all  is  not  extinct  within 
us,  and  it  is  that  voice  which  consecrates  funeral 
worship  among  all  the  people  of  the  earth.     All 


BUDDHA   PANTHEON  71 

are  persuaded  that  sleep  is  not  lasting  even  in 
the  tomb,  and  that  death  is  but  a  glorious 
transfiguration." 

The  poet  Montgomery  sums  up  with  : — 

Were  this  frail  world  our  final  rest, 
Then  surely  none  were  blest. 

And  Longfellow  asserts  that : — 

Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest, 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal  ; 
Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest, 

Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 

As  I  am  concerned  at  present  with  missionaries, 
it  would  be  well  also  respectfully  to  recommend 
their  being  well  acquainted  with  the  beauties  of 
any  system  they  are  anxious  to  combat  and  not 
to  start  with  the  ignorant  prejudice  that  a  myriad 
of  deities  necessarily  indicates  a  low  level  of 
paganism.  This  may  be,  and  is,  the  case  at 
Benares,  which  is  not  a  Buddhist  centre,  but  it 
is  not  so  in  Japan  ;  for  a  pantheon  of  Buddhas 
really  means  an  assembly  of  good  men  or  saints 
celebrated  for  deeds  or  teaching,  or  both,  which 
have  been  productive  of  good,  and  who  them- 
selves are  respected  and  prayed  to  on  the 
principle  of  the  continuity  of  good  deeds  in 
death. 

The  grotesque  figures  of  mythological  gods 
are  only  representations  of  an  age  when  we  our- 
selves believed  in  equally  ridiculous  divinities, 
and  are  mainly  the  results  of  art  combined  with 


72  BUDDHISM 

imag-ination.  Shinto,  which  existed  before  art 
in  Japan,  has  no  idols  at  all. 

No  one  in  Japan  really  believes  in  the  ele- 
ments as  actual  gods,  though  popular  superstition, 
handed  down  by  generations,  does  not  give  up 
readily  benefits  such  as  were  supposed  to  accrue 
in  former  times  to  those  who  invoked  the  goddess 
of  Ise  for  a  good  harvest,  any  more  than  did  the 
Romans  give  up  the  worship  of  Ceres,  long  after 
Christianity  had  found  its  footing  in  the  Eternal 
City.  Prayer,  when  it  takes  the  form  of  request 
for  personal  advantage,  being  natural,  is  not  easily 
forgotten. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Basil  Chamberlain 
points  out  that  the  Japanese,  as  a  nation,  are 
*' grossly  forgetful  "  of  all  they  owe  to  Buddhism. 
"Ask  an  educated  Japanese  about  it,  and  ten  to 
one  he  will  smile  in  your  face  and  a  hundred  to 
one  he  knows  nothing  about  the  subject  and 
glories  in  his  nescience." 

Is  not  that  a  promising  soil  for  earnest  religious 
endeavour?  Superstition  may  have  taken  too 
deep  a  root,  but  it  is  compensated  by  the  extra- 
ordinary intellectual  development  of  a  people 
who,  in  the  process  of  evolution,  cannot  be  and 
are  not  satisfied  with  the  mythological  pantheon 
of  Buddhism  grafted  on  Shintoism,  or  with  the 
complicated  philosophy  of  Gautama,  which  leads 
to  the  annihilation  of  those  very  dead  whom  they 
not  only  believe  still  to  exist,  but  who  are  so  dear 
to  Japanese  memory  that  their   merits  are  con- 


A   FIELD   OF   PROMISE  73 

sidered  so  great  at  this  very  day  as  to  sink  all 
belief  in  the  greater  merits  of  the  living.^  Thus 
if  they  have  no  religion,  properly  speaking,  filial 
piety  saves  them  from  being  irreligious  or  losing 
the  sense  of  religion,  and  does  not  Christianity 
come  in  here  to  their  assistance  with  this  finest 
teaching  in  the  v/orld — God,  our  Father? 

*'For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of 
bondage  again  to  fear ;  but  ye  have  received 
the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba, 
Father"  (Romans  viii.  15).  Other  causes  there 
may  well  be  to  retard  or  altogether  to  prevent  the 
christianizing  of  Japan,  but  it  cannot  be  said  a 
priori  that  there  is  not  a  field  of  promise  before 
the  sincere  and  straightforward  missionary,  who 
has  at  heart  no  other  object  than  to  spread  the 
doctrines  of  self-abnegation,  humility,  and  charity 
taught  by  Christ  our  Redeemer. 

Worldly  considerations  should  not  be  his  : 
political  ones  still  less  so  ;  but  that  it  has  been 
too  much  so  in  the  past  is  illustrated  by  Mr. 
B.  H.  Chamberlain  in  an  amusing  paper  which 
he  reproduces  as  an  appreciation  (written  as  an 
essay  in  English)  by  a  Japanese  boy  who  was 
given  the  task  of  writing  his  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  an   Englishman  : — 

^  "  If  our  combined  squadrons  won  the  victory  and  achieved  the 
remarkable  success  recorded  above,  it  was  because  of  the  virtues  of  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor,  not  owing  to  any  human  prowess.  It  cannot  but 
be  believed  that  the  small  number  of  our  casualties  was  due  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  spirits  of  the  Imperial  Ancestors." — Admiral  Togo's 
Despatch  on  the  victory  of  the  Sea  of  Japan,  published  by  the  Imperial 
Naval  Head-quarter  Staff,  14  June,  1905. 


74  BUDDHISM 

''The  Englishman  works  with  a  very  powerful 
hands  and  the  long"  legs  and  even  the  eminenced 
mind.  .  .  .  Being  spread,  his  dominion  is  dread- 
fully extensive  so  that  his  countryman  boastfully 
says  the  sun  are  never  set  on  our  dominions. 

"The  Testamony  (Testament)  of  English  said 
that  he  that  lost  the  common  sense  he  never  any 
benefit  though  he  had  gained  the  complete  world. 
The  English  are  cunning  institutioned  to  estab- 
lish a  great  empire  of  the  Paradise.  The  English- 
man always  said  to  another  nation  'give  me  your 
land  and  I  will  give  you  my  testamony '  so  it  is 
not  a  robbed  but  exchanged  as  the  English- 
man always  confide  the  object  to  be  pure  and  the 
order  to  be  holy,  they  reproach  him  if  any  of 
them  are  killed  to  death  with  the  contention  of 
other  man." 

"  Se  non  e  vero, "  it  is  uncommonly  near  the 
truth,  and  the  sarcasm  hits  the  mark,  for  it  was 
the  fear  of  foreign  ambition  that  destroyed  the 
commerce  of  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese,  and 
caused  the  extinction  of  three  hundred  thousand 
Christians  that  had  followed  the  advent  of  S. 
Francis  Xavier  and  his  disciples  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  as  it  was  the  same  fear  that  beat  back 
the  tide  of  tolerance  which  was  beginning  to 
show  before  1876.  The  tide  has  returned,  and 
Japan  is  no  longer  led  but  leading.  Let  those 
learn  whose  business  it  is  to  teach. 


CHRIST   AMONG   THE   BUDDHAS  75 

At  Sea,  26  February, 

What  have  they  to  learn?  It  is  as  well  to  go 
briefly  into  the  subject,  as  the  weather  is  not 
more  propitious,  and  the  addition  of  a  fog  seems 
to  call  for  any  light  that  may  be  forthcoming. 

Before  reaching  Bombay  I  was  told  how  neces- 
sary to  a  comprehension  of  the  East,  as  well  as 
to  the  enjoyment  of  a  journey  throughout  its 
regions,  was  an  accurate  knowledge,  not  of 
detail,  but  of  the  general  lines  of  the  religions 
which,  older  than  Christianity,  and  without  its 
sublime  teaching,  had  yet  for  so  many  centuries 
guided  the  thought  and  directed  the  conduct  of 
the  people. 

It  was  not  a  useless  recommendation,  because 
almost  at  the  very  outset  a  student  is  struck  with 
astonishment  to  find  that  virtues  commended  in 
the  great  Sermon  on  the  Mount  have  been  prac- 
tised, and  are  being  practised,  to  this  day  by 
Eastern  people  who  would  be  justified  in  retort- 
ing that  they  do  not  want  to  learn  what  they 
have  been  practising  for  centuries,  and  would 
thus  cut  the  ground  from  beneath  the  feet  of  the 
missionary  instructor  if  he  took  Christian  ethics 
for  his  theme. 

If  he  went  on  the  theological  ground  of  a 
Redeemer,  he  might  be  met,  as  I  was,  by  the 
remark  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  admitting 
Christ  as  a  saintly  personage,  for  in  the  Buddhist 
galaxy  of  great  and  good   men.    He   is   said   to 


76  BUDDHISM 

have  already  a  place,  and  it  is  through  the  spirits 
of  the  good  that  ''Gokuraku"  (Heaven)  can  be 
attained  after  this  life. 

With  Buddhists,  existence  is  itself  an  evil ; 
hence,  in  their  view,  no  God  can  have  created 
mankind,  because  no  supreme  God  would  create 
evil,  and,  as  a  fact,  creation  of  mankind  is  not 
accounted  for ;  nor  can  He  exist  Himself,  else 
He  would  be  the  essence  of  evil,  and  would  have 
no  power  over  good  instincts.  Man,  therefore, 
who  suffers  the  evil  of  existence  must  fight  down 
his  passions,  which  constitute  the  root  of  that 
evil,  and  can  only  do  so  in  the  process  of  time  (if 
so  minded)  by  a  series  of  self-imposed  penances. 

If  the  maxim  "Obey  the  law  and  follow  your 
instinct  "  is  not  a  great  inducement  to  perfection, 
that  end,  however,  can,  it  is  said,  be  reached  by 
the  knowledge  of  self  and  the  gradual  subsidence 
of  the  passions  through  a  number  of  cycles 
which  defy  calculation,  it  is  true,  but  which  ex- 
plain why  the  aggregate  amount  of  people,  in- 
capable of  reaching  a  fraction  of  this  perfection, 
are  continuing  to  pray  for,  and  to,  ancestors,  so 
as  to  help  and  speed  them  to  reach  the  annihila- 
tion of  all  evil  in  Nirvana,  where  all  is  gained  or 
lost  in  non-existence. 

The  late  Mr.  Lafcadio  Hearn,  whose  books  on 
Japan  would  be  more  valuable  were  they  less 
poetically  conceived,  but  who  was  perhaps,  after 
Sir  Ernest  Satow,  the  best  authority  on  Japanese 
thought,    has   devoted    a   whole    chapter   of   his 


NIRVANA  77 

gleanings  in  Buddha  fields  to  the  Nirvana,  or 
happy  annihilation,  not  only  of  the  Ego  as  exist- 
ence, but  of  all  knowledge  whatsoever.  As  he 
defines  Nirvana,  it  means  ''the  extinction  of 
individual  sensation,  emotion,  thought — the  final 
disintegration  of  conscious  personality — the  anni- 
hilation of  everything  that  can  be  included  under 
the  term  I." 

But  this  delectable  state  is  difficult  of  attain- 
ment. Assuming  with  modern  Buddhism  that 
the  pilgrimage  through  death  and  birth  must 
continue,  for  the  majority  of  mankind  at  least, 
even  after  the  attainment  of  the  highest  condi- 
tions possible  upon  this  globe,  the  way  rises  from 
terrestrial  conditions  to  other  and  superior  worlds, 
passing  first  through  the  six  heavens  of  Desire 
''Yoku-ten";  thence  through  the  seventeen 
heavens  of  Form  Shiki-Kai ;  lastly,  through  the 
four  heavens  of  Formlessness  Mushiki-Kai,  be- 
yond which  lies  Nirvana. 

"The  need  of  food,  rest,  and  sexual  relations 
continues  to  be  felt  in  the  Heavens  of  Desire." 

''  In  the  first  of  these  heavens  called  the  Four 
Kings,  life  lasts  five  times  longer  than  on  earth, 
and  each  year  is  equal  to  fifty  terrestrial  years." 

In  the  next  the  duration  of  life  is  double  that 
of  the  first  heaven. 

In  the  third,  life  is  double  that  of  the  second. 

In  the  fourth  still  doubled. 

In  the  fifth  once  more. 

In  the  sixth  again. 


78  BUDDHISM 

Taking  therefore  thirty-three  years  on  earth  as 
an  average  life,  we  arrive  at  this  result : — 

33  y.  X  5=  165  y.  X  50=    8250  years  in  the  first  heaven. 

16,500       ,,       ,,        second     ,, 

33,000       ,,       ,,        third        ,, 

66,000       ,,       ,,        fourth      ,, 

132,000       ,,       ,,        fifth  ,, 

264,000       ,,       ,,        sixth        ,, 

In  all  511,750  before  beginning  the 
ascent  of  the  seventeen  heavens 
of  Form,  which  lead  directly  to 
Nirvana  ! 

It  is  almost  painfully  surprising  to  find  so  much 
ingenuity  employed  in  fixing  arbitrary  numbers 
to  unknown  quantities  and  to  behold  the  capacity 
of  man  to  gulp  down  any  statement  as  to  futurity: 
what  is  truly  pathetic  is  the  helplessness  of 
mortality  before  its  own  consciousness  of  a 
creative  and  eternal  Deity  by  reason  of  its  finite 
character  before  the  Infinite  ! 

To  be  a  Buddha,  however,  is  to  have  reached 
the  highest  degree  of  sanctity,  ''having  thrown 
off  the  bondage  of  sense,  perception,  and  self, 
knowing  the  utter  unreality  of  all  phenomena," 
for  Buddha  is  not  a  name  but  an  attribute  :  it 
means  awake,  enlightened.  This  rather  runs 
counter  to  total  annihilation,  but  all  is  contradic- 
tion in  Buddhism.  Whether  looked  at  from  a 
religious  or  a  philosophical  point  of  view,  its 
aims  appear  decidedly  to  be  excellent,  but  its 
basis  at  fault.     Indeed,   but  for  Confucius  and 


DIVINE    ORIGIN    OF   PRINCES  79 

his  philosophy,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  its 
influence  across  so  many  years,  unless  its  ritual, 
which,  in  many  ways,  is  curiously  like  that  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  has  proved  as  powerful  an 
attraction  as  ritualism  in  England.  It  must 
have  done  so  in  the  beginning,  for  it  absorbed 
the  earlier  mythical  gods  of  Japan,  viz.  that 
Shinto  creed,  which  is  so  decayed  and  obsolete 
that  all  efforts  at  revival  are  proving  useless  and 
vain.  One  doctrine  alone,  the  divine  origin  of 
the  Mikado,  subsists  in  theory,  and  cannot  be 
supported  by  calm  reasoning.  Even  His  Im- 
perial Majesty  himself,  though  he  be  still  a  firm 
believer  (which  I  am  not  aware  of)  in  the  doctrine 
now  publicly  rejected  by  every  portion  of  the 
globe  except  China  and  Japan,  official  Russia 
and  possibly  Germany  (it  may  even  be  secretly 
entertained  by  royal  personages  elsewhere) — of 
the  divine  rights  of  sovereigns,  cannot  in  sober 
reason  believe  that  he  descends  from  the  '*  wash- 
ing of  the  left  eye  "  of  one  Izanagi,  who,  having 
bathed  in  the  sea  to  purify  himself,  generated  by 
this  process  a  number  of  deities:  *'the  sun 
Goddess  from  washing  the  left  eye  ;  the  moon 
God  from  washing  the  right  eye;  and  the  rain 
God  from  washing  his  nose." 

Japan  is  too  advanced  to  admit  of  such  non- 
sense, and  for  the  English  reader  a  perusal  of 
Mr.  W.  G.  Aston's  remarkable  book  on  Shinto 
will  convince  him  that  the  Japanese  can  only 
accept    all    this    extravaganza    as    myths    made 


8o  BUDDHISM 

sacred  by  the  sacredness  of  time,  and  are  bound 
to  look  elsewhere  for  religious  ideals. 

The  decay  of  Shinto,  which  means  "the  ways 
of  the  Gods,"  has  long  been  in  process  owing,  no 
doubt,  to  its  being  realized  that  the  '*ways"  of  the 
primitive  gods  of  Japan  were,  to  say  the  least, 
shaped  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner.  It  was, 
and  is,  a  religion  without  dogmas  or  a  moral 
code  ;  with  no  promise  of  heaven  or  of  hell ; 
without  belief  in  any  supreme  being,  and  without 
notion  of  the  fitness  of  things  ;  and  it  is  certain 
that,  but  for  Buddhism,  which  grafted  itself  upon 
it  by  accepting  its  nature  deities,  and  pointing  to 
an  end  desirable  or  the  reverse,  it  would  long 
since  have  vanished  from  the  regions  of  both 
religious  and  philosophical  inquiry.  Nor  would 
recent  attempts  have  been  made  to  prop  up  the 
tottering  edifice,  had  it  not  been  for  the  heredi- 
tary hero  and  ancestor  ** worship"  so  ingrained 
in  the  people,  which  permits,  for  political  reasons, 
the  belief  being  fostered  that  the  beloved  Sove- 
reign at  the  head  of  the  nation  is  truly  of  divine 
descent. 

It  strikes  me  equally  forcibly  that  Buddhism 
itself  has  much  to  thank  the  West  for  in  regard 
to  its  continuation  as  a  creed,  for  have  not 
Western  philosophers  discovered  that  Nirvana  or 
annihilation  is  intended  to  mean  absorption  in 
the  Immaterial  Essence,  viz.  the  passing  into  the 
domain  of  spiritualism  and  idealism  ?  Has  not 
Schopenhauer  led  to  Nietzche's  sad  end  ?    At  any 


SUPERSTITION  8i 

rate,  the  Buddhist  moral  code  is  exceptionally- 
praiseworthy,  and  the  assertion  that  all  men  can 
by  good  lives  become  Buddhas,  is  at  least  con- 
soling to  those  who  can  distinguish  right  from 
wrong.  That  many  have  tried  and  succeeded  is 
a  fact  to  which  thousands  of  statues  attest ;  and 
that  these  statues  have  become  idols  is  really  no 
more  the  fault  of  Sakya  Muni,  the  founder  of 
Buddhism,  than  in  Christian  Europe  it  is  the 
fault  of  Christian  doctrine  that  the  images  of 
saints  are  in  many  places  receiving  more  popular 
homage  than  the  saints  themselves. 

Superstition  is,  alas  !  of  this  world,  and  educa- 
tion alone  lifts  us  above  its  grosser  forms  ;  but  I 
end  where  I  began — if  missionaries  want  to  suc- 
ceed, it  is  imperative  that  in  the  condemnation  of 
the  people  who  have  deified  what  it  was  only 
intended  to  sanctify  they  should  be  careful  not 
to  make  too  light  of  great  thoughts  which  have 
commanded  respectful  attention  even  on  the  part 
of  great  thinkers  in  the  West.  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  jealous  zeal  and  tactless  conduct  of  the 
Dominicans  in  China  five  hundred  years  ago, 
that  country  might  have  been  Christian  now, 
thanks  to  the  intelligent  efforts  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  of  those  days. 

Lord  Redesdale  (A.  B.  Mitford)  has  an  admir- 
able paper  on  that  subject  in  his  preface  to  the 
"Attache  in  Peking,"  which  was  reprinted  a  short 
time  since.  At  any  rate  missionaries  should  not 
forget  that,    in  the  judgment  of   the  Almighty, 


82  BUDDHISM 

there  is  a  wide  difference  between  a  pagan  who 
has  not  known  the  Christian  law  and  a  Christian 
who,  having  known  it,  has  renounced  it ;  and 
that  His  justice  will  administer  very  different 
treatment  to  the  one  and  to  the  other.  ''For 
unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  be 
much  required  :  and  to  whom  men  have  com- 
mitted much,  of  him  they  will  ask  the  more " 
(St.  Luke  XII.  48). 

I  must,  however,  in  justice  to  the  zealous  men 
to  whom  I  have  thus  satisfactorily  (as  I  like  to 
think)  given  all  this  seemingly  excellent  counsel, 
own  that  in  addressing  it  to  them  as  a  body  I 
have  been  directing  it  to  my  personal  thoughts 
and  prejudices ;  and,  if  they  please,  they  can 
retort  upon  me  with  Horace  : — 

Mutato  nomine  de  te  fabula  narratur, 
without  my  owing  them  any  grudge  whatsoever. 


CHAPTER    V 


Nagasaki    . 

A  rrival. 

Kobe  . 

Progress. 

Osaka 

.     Wealth. 

Kyoto 

Old  Japan 

Nara  . 

BroTizes. 

Nagoya 

Wrestling. 

Yokohama  . 

.     Art. 

Nagasaki,  26  February,  1906. 

AFTER  a  lively  night  at  sea  and  a  livelier  morn- 
L  ing",  we  g"ot  into  a  fog  as  we  neared  the  islands 
that  keep  guard  on  Nagasaki  Bay,  and  for  a  time 
ran  great  risk  of  being  wrecked  on  Iwoshima, 
whose  lighthouse  we  spied  on  our  port  bow 
instead  of  on  the  starboard.  A  little  judicious 
and  timely  backing  brought  things  right  without 
many  passengers  noticing  the  danger  we  had 
courted,  and  at  5  p.m.  we  cast  anchor  in  this 
beautiful  harbour  almost  alongside  a  Russian 
ship  filled  with  returning  Russian  prisoners  of 
war,  and  opposite  the  dock  wherein  the  battle- 
ship "Pobieda, "  sunk  by  the  Japanese  at  Port 
Arthur  and  subsequently  raised  by  them,  was 
undergoing  repairs  before  joining,  under  the  name 
of  "Sawo,"  the  squadrons  of  her  new  masters. 
Around  us  were  two  grim-looking  men-of-war — 

83 


84  NAGASAKI 

the  **Kasagi,"  which  during  the  battle  of  the 
Sea  of  Japan  had  been  the  flagship  of  Admiral 
Dewa,  and  was  so  badly  hit  on  her  port  bunker, 
below  the  waterline,  as  to  prevent  her  taking  part 
in  pursuit  of  the  Russian  ships,  and  the  "Akagi," 
which,  heading  the  destroyer  and  the  torpedo- 
boat  flotillas,  effected  on  3  May  the  third  block- 
ing operation  of  Port  Arthur. 

Nagasaki  has  a  history,  and  no  doubt  on  this 
account  is  not  quite  happy,  for  it  has,  at  least  for 
the  present,  very  little  besides.  Its  harbour,  its  fish 
market,  its  "kin-gyoku-to"  jelly,  made  of  seaweed, 
and  its  masculine  coal  girls,  who  can  put  twelve 
hundred  tons  of  coal  on  board  a  steamer  in  three 
hours,  are  not  reckoned  enough  to  guarantee  the 
prosperity  which  somehow  is  anticipated,  and  no 
doubt  will  come  when  the  Manchurian  free  ports 
question  is  finally  settled.  When  the  Russians 
were  at  Port  Arthur,  it  was  their  delight  to  have 
a  trip  to  Nagasaki,  and  I  am  assured  that  many 
Japanese,  notwithstanding  their  undoubted  pa- 
triotism, regret  the  absence  and  the  liberality  of 
these  spendthrift  foes. 

When,  however,  Nagasaki  does  become  rich,  I 
hope  the  mayor  and  corporation  will  erect  statues 
to  Marco  Polo,  to  Mendes  Pinto,  to  Engelbert 
Kampfer,  to  Will  Adams,  and  to  Philipp  Franz 
von  Siebold,  for  it  was  through  them  that  the 
rest  of  the  world  heard  of  Nagasaki  and  of  the 
mysterious  country  which  has  now  revealed  its 
hidden  potentialities. 


VON   SIEBOLD  85 

Marco  Polo  spoke  of  Japan  about  the  year 
1320.  Pinto  three  times  set  foot  at  Nagasaki  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  on  one  occasion  in 
1548  brought  Francis  Xavier  with  him.  Will 
Adams,  an  English  pilot  employed  by  the  Dutch, 
was  stranded  not  far  from  Nagasaki  in  1600,  and 
remained  in  Japan  for  twenty  years,  employed 
by  leyasu  as  a  ship  builder.  Kampfer  was  the 
first  to  write  a  book  on  Japan,  and  von  Siebold 
to  publish  authoritative  accounts  respecting  the 
natural  history  of  Nippon. 

Excepting  Marco  Polo,  of  whose  actual  pre- 
sence in  Japan  there  is  not,  I  think,  any  convinc- 
ing evidence,  all  the  other  great  travellers  and 
writers  resided  mainly  at  Nagasaki  or  at  Deshima, 
which  is  that  portion  of  Nagasaki  wherein  the 
Dutch  were  permitted  to  reside  ;  hence  my  wish 
for  their  statues. 

The  rapid  change  that  has  come  over 
Japan  in  half  a  century  is  brought  home  very 
vividly  when  we  recollect  that  not  later  than 
1830,  owing  to  one  Takahashi,  an  astronomer, 
who  gave  von  Siebold  a  map  of  Japan,  and  died 
in  a  dungeon  wherein  he  was  cast  for  giving  the 
same,  Siebold's  house  was  searched,  his  servants 
were  arrested  and  tortured,  and  he  himself  had  to 
appear  on  his  knees  before  the  Governor  of 
Nagasaki  to  answer  for  his  share  in  the  crime 
before  being  banished  from  the  country.  Von 
Siebold  died  in  1866,  but  the  map  which  Taka- 
hashi had  given  him   is  the  authority  on   which 


86  NAGASAKI 

our   geographical    knowledge    of   Japan    mainly 
rests  even  now. 

It  rained  so  much  that  we  saw  little  of  the 
town  on  this  our  first  night  in  the  land  of 
Japan,  but  we  boldly  faced  the  dangers  of 
burning  charcoal  in  a  small  brazier  under  the 
awning  of  the  boat  that  took  us  ashore — the  fury 
of  a  Japanese  boatman  who  lashed  his  craft  to 
ours  for  the  purpose,  I  believe,  of  boarding  us 
and  seizing  our  persons  in  his  despair  at  missing 
a  fare — and  the  cold,  pelting,  pitiless  downpour. 
We  dined  fairly  at  the  Nagasaki  hotel,  but  did 
not  feel  as  if  we  were  in  the  East.  To  remedy 
this  drawback  we  went  to  a  Japanese  theatre,  which 
certainly  gave  us  all  the  local  colour  we  wanted 
and  more.  The  place  was  crowded,  but  as  to 
the  acting,  it  was  impossible  to  say  whether  it 
was  good  or  bad,  for  words  and  action,  noise  and 
gestures,  were  all  incomprehensible.  The  audi- 
ence was  made  up  seemingly  of  children  and 
such  serious  youthful  faces  to  boot  that  our 
decided  first  impression  was  that  in  this  happy 
land  all  the  women  are  seventeen  years  of  age, 
and  all  the  men,  including  babies,  are  twenty- 
five.  When  the  din  created  by  a  man  at  the 
wings,  who  beat  a  drum  at  all  times  and  appar- 
ently without  reason  except  his  own  satisfaction, 
had  convinced  us  that  we  could  not  stand  much 
more  noise,  we  returned  to  the  ship,  not  at  all 
unhappy  at  neither  having  made  head  nor  tail  of 
what  we  ignorantly  considered  a  rather  primitive 


SADA   YAKKO  87 

performance.  One  thing  we  did  pride  ourselves 
in — we  did  not  laugh,  possibly  because  there  was 
nothing  to  laugh  at,  and  probably  because  the 
serious  looks  of  the  juvenile-looking  audience 
awed  us  ;  hence  our  good  breeding. 

I  understand  on  good  authority  that  the  Japan- 
ese would  not  have  been  proof  against  merriment 
under  similar  circumstances.  Mr.  B.  H.  Cham- 
berlain instances  the  case  of  a  small  Italian  opera 
troupe  which  came  to  Yokohama  a  few  years  back, 
and  were  given  an  opportunity  of  being  heard  by 
a  genuine  Japanese  audience.  ''When  once,"  he 
says,  **the  Japanese  had  recovered  from  the  first 
shock  of  surprise,  they  were  seized  with  a  wild  fit 
of  hilarity  at  the  high  notes  of  the  prima  donna, 
who  really  was  not  at  all  bad.  The  people  laughed 
at  the  absurdities  of  European  singing  till  their 
sides  shook  and  the  tears  rolled  down  their  cheeks; 
and  they  stuffed  their  sleeves  into  their  mouths, 
as  we  might  our  pocket-handkerchiefs,  in  the  vain 
endeavour  to  contain  themselves.  Needless  to 
say  that  the  experiment  was  not  repeated."  All 
this  is  comforting  to  me  ;  for  it  does  show  that 
the  effete  West  has  at  least  one  merit — that  of  fair 
appreciation  of  talent  and  of  ability  to  make  ab- 
straction of  nationality  in  the  apportionment  of 
praise.  I  cannot  forget  Parisian  enthusiasm  in 
1900  over  the  histrionic  efforts  of  Sada  Yakko, 
who  in  Japan  had  only  been  known  as  a  singing 
girl,  and  was  revealed,  through  Paris,  to  Japan, 
as  a  dramatic  actress  of  both  grace  and  power. 


88  KOBE 

Kobe,   i  March. 

The  s.s.  "  Coptic  "  deposited  us  here  last  night 
and  we  found  ourselves  in  a  European  town. 
Lord  Redesdale,  who  knew  it  in  1868,  says  that 
at  that  time  *'it  was  a  mere  tract  of  waste  land 
outside  Hiogo  without  so  much  as  a  single  hut 
upon  it,"  and  that  in  those  days  **its  chief  fame 
consisted  in  the  excellence  of  its  beef."  "Nous 
avons  change  tout  cela."  It  possesses  quays, 
villas,  mansions,  one  of  the  best  hotels  in  Japan, 
a  first-rate  club,  and  a  commercial  and  industrial 
class  that  bids  fair  not  to  permit  Osaka  to  have 
it  all  her  own  way.  The  population  numbers 
274,000,  and  is  increasing;  but  the  beef  has 
deteriorated,  if  judged  by  the  hotel  culinary 
interpretation  of  the  word. 

Kobe  is  348  miles  by  sea  from  Yokohama  to 
the  east  and  330  miles  from  Shimonoseki  to  the 
west.  The  distances  by  rail  are  about  the  same, 
so  that  Kobe  is  actually  half-way  between  the 
Pacific  and  the  Sea  of  Japan  ;  and,  being  a 
splendid  roadstead  in  a  calm  inland  sea  of 
nearly  700  miles  length,  constitutes  a  naturally 
delightful  resting-place  for  mariners  and  for 
travellers. 

The  weather  was  cold  and  all  the  hills  were 
covered  with  snow.  This  I  would  have  minded 
less  were  it  not  that,  anxious  to  suit  my  *'habille- 
ment "  to  the  climate,  I  found  that  the  "Coptic" 
had  sailed  away  with  all  my  winter  campaigning 


MR.    GORDON   SMITH  89 

kit.  But  what  matters  this  in  a  land  where 
Chinese  tailors  measure  a  man  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning  for  three  suits  of  clothes,  try 
them  on  at  2  p.m.,  and  return  them  completed 
and  a  perfect  fit  at  7  p.m.  ?  This  is  actually 
my  experience  which  I  record  as  a  decided  ad- 
vantage possessed  by  the  tailors  of  the  East  over 
their  lazy  compeers  in  the  West.  I  also  note 
that  the  Chinese  residents  in  Japan  have  absorbed 
certain  trades  to  themselves  ;  not  that  there  are 
no  Japanese  tailors  and  barbers — there  are  thou- 
sands of  them — but  I  understand  that  their  art  is 
not  as  highly  prized  in  the  sartorial  and  tonsorial 
parlours  of  the  East  as  that  of  the  Chinese. 

Mr.  Gordon  Smith,  who  lives  in  a  delightful 
Japanese  house  at  Sannoniya,  a  suburb  of  Kobe 
on  the  hills  at  the  back  of  the  town,  gave  us  our 
first  insight  into  the  merits  of  Japanese  matting, 
Japanese  dishes,  and  Japanese  curios.  Engaged 
in  an  illustrated  diary  of  his  active  life  and  natural 
history  researches,  many  of  which  he  has  com- 
municated to  the  British  Museum,  he  has  almost 
settled  down  in  this  country,  and  has  not,  like 
many,  been  disappointed  in  the  little  people  with 
big  souls  among  whom  he  has  elected  to  make 
his  home.  A  Shinto  priest  is  his  amanuensis, 
and  these  two  together,  when  the  time  comes  for 
publication,  will  have  produced  a  regular  folk- 
lore compendium  of  the  greatest  value  and  in- 
terest. With  such  Japanese  scholars  to  help  him 
when  in  doubt,  as  the  British  Consul,  Mr.  Bonar, 


90  KOBE 

and  the  British  Vice-Consul,  Mr.  Rentier,  our 
friend  appears  to  have  wisely  chosen  his  habita- 
tion in  Kobe  in  preference  to  any  other  place  in 
Japan.  It  is  especially  well  chosen  owing  to  the 
facility  with  which  he  can,  when  he  pleases,  travel 
to  those  spots  of  celebrity,  of  which  he  is  collect- 
ing the  legends,  traditions,  and  memories,  accom- 
panied as  they  will  be  by  an  appreciation  of  the 
rural  people  he  meets  and  of  such  characteristics 
as  are  likely  to  be  permanent  and  not  affected  by 
the  Europeanizing  movement  which  is  evidently 
going  on  in  the  towns. 

The  inland  sea,  more  than  any  other  region, 
harbours  legends  without  number.  In  fact,  on  a 
journey  hither  from  Nagasaki,  one  is  bewildered 
by  the  amount  of  mythological  and  wonderful 
accounts  of  events  sacred  to  the  people  who  live 
in  the  places  where  such  are  said  to  have  occurred, 
or  to  the  nation  by  reason  of  the  temples  which  it 
has  been  thought  necessary  to  erect  and  even,  in 
many  instances,  worthy  to  maintain  at  the  charge 
of  the  State. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  there  are  no  remains  of 
oldest  Japan,  such  as  those  which  still  exist  in 
Hokkaido  (Yezo),  viz.  of  those  curious  pit- 
dwellings  which  in  early  Japanese  history  appear 
to  have  been  the  ordinary  habitations  of  the 
people,  probably  because  Bizen  is  a  warmer 
climate  than  Teshio  or  Kitami,  there  are  plenty 
of  legendary  localities  of  an  even  earlier  date. 
Thus  it  is  not  far  from  Kobe  to  Satsuma  with  its 


MYTHOLOGICAL   LORE  91 

sacred  mount  Kirishima,  the  Mount  Ararat  of 
Japan,  on  the  eastern  summit  of  which  is  kept 
the  heavenly  spear  of  Ninigi,  grandson  of 
Amaterasu,  the  sun  goddess,  who  ahghted 
upon  it  to  help  Jimmu  Tenno  in  his  conquest 
of  Japan  ;  and  which  mount  is  hence  one  of 
the  cradles  of  the  Mikado's  dynasty.  Nor  is 
it  far  from  **Ise, "  where,  for  centuries,  a  virgin 
daughter  of  the  Mikado  always  dwelt  in  charge 
of  the  mirror,  sword,  and  jewel,  inherited  from 
the  goddess  of  the  sun,  his  divine  ancestress. 
It  is  only  a  few  hours  from  "  Kagoshima, "  whose 
powerful  warriors  first  destroyed  in  1868  the 
power  of  the  Shoguns,  and  then  nine  years  later 
rebelled  against  the  Mikado  whom  they  had 
helped  to  an  undivided  sovereignty.  If  Saigo, 
the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Mikado's  forces, 
drew  his  sword  against  his  sovereign  on  that 
occasion  (no  one  exactly  knows  what  for — prob- 
ably some  mistaken  idea),  he  began  the  atone- 
ment himself  by  performing  Seppuku,  and  left 
its  complete  fulfilment  to  the  glorious  deeds  of 
loyal  subjects,  Oyama,  Ito,  Kuroki,  Okuma,  and 
especially  Togo,  all  of  whom  hail  from  this  land 
of  brave  men.  Again,  the  island  of  Awaji  is  not 
very  distant  and  is  said  to  be  the  first-fruit  of  Isa- 
nagi  and  Isanami's  creative  powers  in  the  land  of 
Nippon.  Equally  near  is  Myajima,  where  in 
order  not  to  disturb  the  sacred  deer  no  one 
is  either  permitted  to  be  born  or  to  be  buried 
on    its    hallowed    space  :    a    spot    considered    so 


92  KOBE 

beautiful  that  the  sun  and  the  moon  are  nowhere 
seen  to  so  great  advantage.  Appeased  by  the 
magnificence  of  the  temple  raised  here  in  their 
honour,  the  glorious  Ama-terasu  and  her  rough 
brother  Susa-no-o  appear  to  have  left  off  quarrel- 
ling in  order  that  they  might  enjoy  the  scenery 
and  the  offerings  of  the  pilgrims.  Are  there  not, 
besides,  on  the  shores  of  the  inland  sea  countless 
fishermen  who  have  seen  wonders  as  great  as,  if 
not  greater  than  the  sea-serpents  of  our  Western 
seas?  The  "Tennin,"  for  instance,  middle-aged 
spinsters  clad  like  babies  in  swaddling  clothes 
playing  flutes  in  mid-air;  **  shojo  "-red-haired 
sea-monsters  given  to  drinking  enormous  quan- 
tities of  liquor;  the  *'Oni,"  whose  necks  are  of 
such  length  that  they  require  to  be  twisted  and 
handled  as  a  scarf;  the  "Nue, "  a  very  liberally 
treated  bird,  which,  besides  wings,  has  the  head 
of  a  monkey,  the  body  of  a  tiger,  and  the  tail  of  a 
serpent  ?  And  more  wonderful  still  than  all  these 
interesting  legends,  almost  all  of  which  bear  a 
queer  resemblance  to  Western  mythology,  is  there 
not  Dazaifu  in  Kyushu,  between  which  and  the 
hot  springs  of  Musashi  is  a  village  made  memor- 
able by  the  rebirth  of  Katsugoro,  attested  by 
various  documents  seriously  credited  by  the  late 
Lafcadio  Hearn  and  published  in  his  delightful 
''Gleanings  in  Buddha  Fields,"  and  which 
occurred  as  recently  as  1814?  In  the  autumn  of 
that  year  the  nine -years -old  child  of  farmer 
Genzo,  one  Katsugoro,  confided  to  his  sister  that 


A    REBORN   CHILD  93 

he  remembered  having  quite  another  father,  a  cer- 
tain Kyubei,  also  a  farmer,  living  in  the  same  dis- 
trict of  Musashi,  but  of  higher  standing  than 
their  present  parent.  He  remembered  having 
died  of  small-pox  at  the  age  of  six  years  and 
having  been  reborn  since  in  the  family  of  Genzo. 
His  name  at  his  first  birth  had  been  Tozo,  and 
he  gave  accounts  as  to  the  personal  appearance, 
and  facial  characteristics  of  his  former  parents 
as  well  as  the  aspect  of  the  house  which  had 
been  his  first  home.  All  this  soon  came  to  the 
ears  of  Kyubei  Hanshiro,  who  called  on  his 
former  son  and  invited  him  to  his  late  home. 
Here  it  was  declared  by  those  who  saw  him  that 
he  (Katsugoro)  "  looked  very  much  like  their 
Tozo,  who  had  died  a  number  of  years  before  at 
the  age  of  six,"  and  it  appears  that  since  then 
"the  two  families  have  been  visiting  each  other 
at  intervals." 

This  esoteric  event  no  doubt  deserves  every 
consideration  ;  but  in  the  vast  field  before  my 
friend  Mr.  Gordon  Smith,  and  the  numberless 
temptations  which  surround  him  to  believe  what 
is  so  circumstantially  narrated,  I  trust  he  will  not 
write  anything  to  strengthen  belief  in  a  rebirth  in 
this  world,  at  all  events,  for  that  would  be  adding 
one  more  terror  to  the  terrors  existing,  which  is 
neither  wholesome  nor  necessary.  I  much  prefer 
to  hear  about  the  quarrels  of  gods  and  goddesses 
than  to  listen  to  the  squabbles  of  children  in 
search    of   their    real    father.      There    is    some 


94  OSAKA 

wisdom  in  the  French  law  dictum,  "  la  recherche 
de  la  paternite  est  defendue  en  France."  It  is 
dreadful  to  contemplate  what  mischief  might  be 
wrought  by  reborn  children  gifted  with  accurate 
memories  like  Katsugoro  Genzo  ''  ne  "  previously 
Tozo  Kyubei  Hanshiro  !  The  crowning  surprise 
is  that  Lafcadio  Hearn  actually  believed  in  the 
possibility  of  such  rebirths  ! 

Apart  from  all  these  splendid  fields  of  research, 
Kobe  has  natural  beauties  to  commend  it  and 
mineral  waters  to  enrich  it.  Its  pine-clad  hills 
are  noted  in  history  and  in  classical  romance. 
Both  the  Tansan  and  Hirans  springs  are  in  its 
immediate  neighbourhood  and  defy  European 
competition,  while  no  less  than  seven  steamer 
agencies  cater  for  the  advent  of  foreigners  into 
this  favoured  land.     What  more  can  Kobe  desire? 


Osaka,  5  March. 

This  is  the  second  city  of  the  Empire,  and 
perhaps  the  wealthiest.  It  covers  an  area  of  close 
on  eight  square  miles,  and  possesses  an  industrial 
population  which  at  the  last  census  numbered 
821,000.  It  is  not  well  known  how  far  a  Japanese 
census  is  trustworthy,  as  most  of  us  are  ignorant 
of  the  main  principles  on  which  it  is  based,  but 
as  everybody  I  saw  gave  this  city  a  population 
of  over  a  million,  there  must  be  an  error  of  calcu- 
lation somewhere. 

This  may  not  matter  much,  generally  speaking, 


ORDERS    IN   COUNCIL  95 

but  as  Japan  is  counting"  on  a  big"  population  for 
its  industrial  growth  and  on  commercial  develop- 
ment for  replenishing  its  coffers,  exact  figures 
become  important  in  the  process  of  calculation. 
I  saw  it  stated  somewhere  that  while  the  total 
population  of  Japan  was  33,000,000  in  1872,  it 
had  risen  to  48,000,000  in  1905.  This  is  cer- 
tainly remarkable,  as  it  represents  an  increase  of 
15,000,000  in  one  generation,  viz.  in  thirty-three 
years,  or  at  the  rate  of  500,000  a  year.  This 
almost  tallies  with  the  census.  That  official 
document  shows  that  in  1892  the  population  was 
41,000,000,  and  in  1902  45,500,000,  the  increase 
being  4,500,000  in  ten  years,  or  450,000  a  year. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  census  records  the 
advance  of  Osaka  in  ten  years  from  506,000  to 
821,000,  which  at  the  rate  of  315,000  increase  in 
ten  years  should  make  her  population  1,039,500 
now,  and  therein  lies  no  doubt  the  popular 
illusion.  How  delightful  are  statistics  that  can 
clear  these  discrepancies  so  easily  !  They  are 
almost  as  useful  as  Orders  in  Council.  I  re- 
member an  Order  in  Council  being  issued  at 
the  request  of  our  Treasury  when  I  was  Colonial 
Secretary  in  British  Honduras,  raising  the 
depreciated  Guatemalan  dollar  to  the  value  of 
the  Mexican  dollar.  The  result  was  that,  within 
a  month,  every  Mexican  dollar  in  the  country 
had  found  its  way  to  America,  where  the  Guate- 
malan dollar  was  only  accepted  at  one-third  of 
the  value  of  the    Mexican,    and    the    Honduras 


96  OSAKA 

merchants,  being  nearly  ruined  by  the  would-be 
wisdom  of  the  British  Treasury,  raised  such  a 
hue  and  cry  that,  presto !  another  Order  in 
Council  was  issued  re-establishing  affairs  as  they 
were.  But  the  mischief  was  done,  and  Honduras, 
I  believe,  has  never  quite  recovered. 

Besides  being  a  great  commercial  centre,  Osaka 
possesses  several  titles  to  greatness  and  to  fame. 
It  is  the  abode  of  the  Imperial  Mint,  of  which 
it  would  be  pleasant  to  have  the  free  run  for 
an  hour  or  so,  as  the  coins,  apart  from  their  pur- 
chasing value,  have  considerable  artistic  merit. 
It  is  the  head-quarter  of  one  of  the  twelve  military 
divisions  in  which  Japan  is  partitioned.  It  is 
also  one  of  the  six  treaty  ports  which  have  given 
rise  to  so  much  controversy,  and  have  apparently 
caused  British  residents  in  Japan  not  altogether 
fairly  to  look  down  on  our  Foreign  Office 
methods,  maintaining  that  the  Japanese,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  quite  content  with  British  ways 
of  negotiating  treaties,  since  of  late  years  these 
have  been  animated  by  "such  a  lofty  and  lavish 
disregard  of  British  interests." 

It  also  possesses  one  of  the  largest  bronze 
bells  in  the  world,  intended  to  be  rung  whenever 
Shotoku  Taishi  conducts  the  dead  into  Paradise, 
and  it  was  also  the  starting-point  in  Fukuzawa 
Yukichi — the  sage  of  Mita's  career.  He  was  the 
one  Japanese  who  can  be  styled  a  modern  philo- 
sopher. His  cast  of  mind  was  more  utilitarian 
than   speculative,  and   to  this  circumstance  it  is 


PERIL   OF   WESTERN    INFLUENCE  97 

no  doubt  due  that  the  influence  which  he  wielded 
over  a  generation  that  had  deliberately  broken 
with  the  past  was  so  great,  as  it  needed  guidance 
in  the  paths  of  more  modern  ideas  which  it  re- 
solved to  adopt. 

The  castle  of  Osaka,  originally  built  by  Hide- 
yoshi  in  1583,  was  at  one  time  the  grandest 
building  in  Japan,  and  is  still  a  splendid  speci- 
men of  a  strong  fortress,  the  huge  stones  em- 
ployed being  conspicuous  curiosities  of  practical 
architecture  ;  but  though  Osaka  possesses  an  old 
castle,  interesting  temples,  a  large  Japanese 
population,  and  any  amount  of  Japanese  charac- 
teristics, it  is  very  Western  in  appearance,  and,  I 
understand,  very  westernized  in  habits. 

This  is  not  quite  the  place  to  talk,  or  think,  or 
write  of  Western  influence  upon  Asiatic  races, 
but  there  are  many  Eastern  people  who  look 
upon  the  peril  of  Western  influence  as  a  very 
serious  impending  misfortune ;  and  there  are 
even  some  who  attribute  to  the  disintegrating 
effects  of  Western  ideas  the  only  regrettable 
incident  on  the  Japanese  side  in  the  late  war, 
when  an  Osaka  regiment  refused  to  follow  its 
leader,  and  had  to  expiate  their  insubordination  by 
ambulance  and  camp  duties  in  place  of  fighting. 

But  trade  is  our  theme  on  a  visit  to  Osaka, 
and,  like  its  corresponding  factor,  population, 
derives  its  interest  from  available  statistics.  It 
being  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  not  more  than  forty 
years  since  the  country  was  thrown  open  to  trade 


q8  OSAKA 

with  the  foreigfner  at  all,  and  not  more  than 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  since  the  Japanese 
Government  have  taken  an  active  interest  in  the 
development  of  the  national  trade,  the  results  are 
well  calculated  to  arrest  attention. 

According  to  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain,  the 
total  of  imports  and  exports  in  1868  was  valued 
at  only  ^2,500,000,  but  in  1904  the  total  amounted 
to  ;^6o,50o,ooo,  an  increase  of  ^58,000,000  in 
thirty-six  years,  or  at  the  rate  of  ^1,500,000  a  year. 

This  is  sufficiently  astonishing  to  create  surprise, 
though,  here  again,  there  seems  to  be  some  un- 
certainty as  to  the  exact  figures.  Another  state- 
ment which  I  have  seen  gives  the  total  in  1904  as 
;!^7o,ooo,ooo,  which  would  be  equal  to  an  increase 
of  ^2,000,000  a  year.  Be  this  as  it  may,  what  is 
particularly  noticeable  is  the  fact  that  in  this 
total  the  exports  almost  equalled  the  imports  :  in 
other  words,  that  the  country  sold  produce  to  the 
extent  of  ^32,000,000,  so  as  to  pay  for  imports 
worth  ^37,000,000,  besides  remunerating  the 
middlemen,  or,  in  other  words,  the  foreigners  act- 
ing as  agents  for  the  purchase  and  sale  of  goods 
in  European  or  American  markets,  to  whom,  of 
course,  commissions  were  due.  No  wonder  the 
Japanese  are  trying  to  do  without  the  middlemen, 
and  that  these  resent  this  act  of  independence. 
The  lists  of  these  imports  and  exports  are  also 
worth  analysing.  From  them  we  gather,  for 
instance,  that  the  material  for  clothing  the 
people  has  to  come  from  abroad,  because  there 


DAWN    OP^    PROSPERITY  99 

are  not  sufficient  pastures  for  sheep,  and  that 
necessaries  of  life,  even  rice,  have  to  be  imported, 
because  there  is  no  longer  enough  land  to  grow 
what  is  requisite  for  an  ever-increasing  popula- 
tion. Then  we  find  that  there  will  always  be 
plenty  of  silk,  and  tea,  and  fish,  and  a  consider- 
able amount  of  mineral  products  to  pay  for 
necessary  purchases  ;  and  that  the  prime  neces- 
sities of  life  being  assured,  the  nation  can  turn 
without  anxiety  to  industrial  enterprise  and  the 
accumulation  of  capital.  Few  countries  are 
better  placed,  or  people  more  suited,  to  ensure  a 
great  future  in  this  line  than  are  the  Japanese 
manufacturers.  Japanese  successes  in  the  late 
war  with  Russia  have  placed  Japan  in  an 
enviable  position  in  the  competition  for  com- 
mercial supremacy  on  the  Pacific  and  in  Asia. 
Cheap  labour  is  at  her  command,  and  her  people 
are  **  exceptionally  gifted  with  intelligence, 
docility,  manual  dexterity,  and  artistic  taste." 
A  history  showing  how  that  intelligence,  that 
docility,  that  taste,  and  that  dexterity  are  being 
utilized  for  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  for 
the  creation  of  that  capital,  would  fill  volumes. 
Hence  these  notes  can  only  indicate  what  every 
one  expects,  viz.  the  advent  of  great  commercial 
prosperity  in  a  near  future. 

We  were  hospitably  entertained  by  a  young 
Frenchman,  M.  Loonen,  who  has  established  a 
large  brush  manufactory  just  outside  the  town, 
over  which  he  conducted  us,  and  where  he  has 


loo  OSAKA 

4000  Japanese  in  his  employ,  paying  a  shilling 
a  day  to  the  men  and  sixpence  to  the  women  as 
wage.  He  spoke  of  Japanese  intelligence  and 
aptitude  with  enthusiasm,  but  thinks  them  too 
fond  of  personal  independence  to  be  subject  at 
any  time  to  the  discipline  of  great  workshops. 
What  that  means  is  more  a  subject  of  inference 
than  discussion,  for  it  may  be  that  native  masters 
would  have  no  difficulty  in  disciplining  native 
toilers,  as  the  subjoined  extract^  may  show. 

^  From  all  parts  of  Japan  lads  are  sent  there  to  learn  particular 
branches  of  industry  or  trade.  There  are  hosts  of  applications  for  any 
vacancy  ;  and  the  business  men  are  said  to  be  very  cautious  in  choosing 
their  "detchi,"  or  apprentice-clerks.  Careful  inquiries  are  made  as  to  the 
personal  character  and  family  history  of  applicants.  No  money  is  paid 
by  the  parents  or  relatives  of  the  apprentices.  The  term  of  service  varies 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  trade  or  industr}' ;  but  it  is  generally  quite 
as  long  as  the  term  of  apprenticeship  in  Europe  ;  and  in  some  branches 
of  business  it  may  be  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years.  Such,  I  am  told,  is 
the  time  of  service  usually  exacted  in  the  dry  goods  business  ;  and  the 
"  detchi "  in  a  dry  goods  house  may  have  to  work  fifteen  hours  a  day, 
with  not  more  than  one  holiday  a  month.  During  the  whole  of  his 
apprenticeship  he  receives  no  wages  whatever — nothing  but  his  board, 
lodging,  and  absolutely  necessary  clothing.  His  master  is  supposed  to 
furnish  him  with  two  robes  a  year,  and  to  keep  him  in  sandals,  or 
"geta."  Perhaps  on  some  great  holiday  he  may  be  presented  with  a 
small  gift  of  pocket-money  ;  but  this  is  not  in  the  bond.  When  his  term 
of  service  ends,  however,  his  master  either  gives  him  capital  enough  to 
begin  trade  for  himself  on  a  small  scale  or  finds  some  other  way  of 
assisting  him  substantially — by  credit,  for  instance.  Many  "  detchi " 
marry  their  employers'  daughters,  in  which  event  the  young  couple  are 
almost  sure  of  getting  a  good  start  in  life. 

The  discipline  of  these  long  apprenticeships  may  be  considered  a 
severe  test  of  character.  Though  a  "detchi"  is  never  addressed  harshly, 
he  has  to  bear  what  no  European  clerk  would  bear.  He  has  no  leisure, 
no  time  of  his  own  except  the  time  necessary  for  sleep  ;  he  must  work 
quietly,  but  steadily,  from  dawn  till  late  in  the  evening ;  he  must 
content  himself  with  the  simplest  diet,  must  keep  himself  neat,  and  must 
never  show  ill-temper.  Wild  oats  he  is  not  supposed  to  have,  and  no 
chance  is  given  him  to  sow  them.  Some  "  detchi  "  never  even  leave 
their  shop,  night  or  day,  for  months  at  a  time — sleeping  on  the  same 
mats  where  they  sit  in  business  hours. — Lafcadio  Hearn,  "Gleanings 
in  Buddha  Fields." 


NO   MORE    MIDDLEMEN  loi 

In  proof,  however,  of  the  high  inteUig-ence  and 
energy  possessed  by  M.  Loonen,  orders  for  his 
brushes  pour  on  him  from  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  His  industry  is  very  prosperous,  and  as 
he  put  it,  "  J'ai  des  commandes  pour  vingt  mois 
a  I'avance."  The  land  he  occupies  is  of  course 
only  leased,  as  foreigners  are  not  permitted  to 
own  land  in  their  individual  capacity  ;  but  his 
lease  is  fully  guaranteed  to  him  for  the  whole 
time  during  which  it  has  to  run.  After  that  time 
comes  the  ''rub" — "  Apres  moi  le  deluge";  and 
it  is  of  course  uncertain  as  yet  whether  the  en- 
couragement afforded  to  foreigners  to  settle  in 
the  country  for  the  purposes  of  trade  and  industry 
— an  encouragement  fully  described  in  the  laws 
which  affect  their  status — is  likely  to  continue. 
Judging  by  what  one  reads  or  hears  or  sees,  it 
looks  as  if  the  whole  nation  still  felt  the  want  of 
commercial  as  they  did  that  of  naval  and  military 
instructors,  until  such  time  when,  having  learned 
all  that  is  to  be  learned,  they  can  dispense  with 
their  services  altogether.  They  have  now  de- 
monstrated in  a  very  practical  and  forcible  manner 
that  they  need  no  further  German  or  British 
military  and  naval  guides  in  the  art  of  war  ;  they 
are  beginning  to  realize  that  the  middlemen  are 
depriving  them  of  part  of  their  trade  profits,  and 
are  trying  to  do  all  things  for  themselves. 
The  laws  relating  to  foreigners  will  not  impede 
their  progress  in  this  direction.  But  are  not 
the  Japanese  somewhat  oblivious  of  man's  falli- 


I02  KYOTO 

bility  ?  Have  they  realized  the  difference  between 
skilled  and  unskilled  labour,  between  standards 
of  efficiency,  between  results  and  study?  In 
fine,  are  they  not  marching  too  quickly  ?  I 
fancy  they  are,  and  that  it  is  a  pity  the  "Sage 
of  Mita"  is  no  more. 

Kyoto,  9  March. 

At  last  we  find  ourselves  in  what  we  probably 
lightly  consider  a  genuine  Japanese  town,  and  we 
can  say  that,  wanting  to  see  Japan,  we  have  seen 
it ;  having  travelled  half  the  globe  to  behold  it, 
we  have  not  only  beheld  it,  but  are  prepared  to 
repeat  the  journey. 

This  is  a  fascinating  spot,  an  enticing  city, 
a  delightful  centre  of  artistic  charm  and  natural 
beauty.  It  is  Japan  in  parvo^  but  it  is  also 
Japan  in  her  greatness.  It  is  the  discarded 
residence  of  the  Mikados,  but  it  remains  the  old 
capital  of  Japan,  and  will  not  cede  its  right  to 
be  styled  the  metropolis.  Whatever  the  Mikado 
still  possesses  of  the  divine  is  divinely  interpreted 
in  the  temples  of  Kyoto.  Whatever  future  there 
is  for  Japanese  trade  is  indicated  in  Kyoto 
shops.  Whatever  grace  remains  for  Europeanized 
Japan  comes  from  Kyoto  institutions,  and  what- 
ever makes  the  Japanese  woman  the  most  capti- 
vating bit  of  humanity  in  the  world  has  its  origin 
here. 

Kyoto    alias     Myako    alias     Heian    jo  —  the 
appellation  matters  little — is  the  embodiment  of 


MYAKO    HOTEL  103 

real,  quaint,  old,  and  delightful  Japan,  and  this 
means  that  it  alone  possesses  the  largest  aggre- 
gate of  those  diamond  virtues  of  humanity 
which  are  severally  styled  artlessness,  simplicity, 
humility,  and  the  desire  to  please. 

No  vulgar  familiarity  ruffles  the  temper  ;  no 
ill  -  bred  haughtiness  tries  our  patience  ;  no 
snobbish  pride  of  purse  or  station  raises  our 
bile.  Men  are  men  and  women  are  women,  as  the 
Almighty  made  them,  and  intended  them  to  be, 
and  it  is  truly  refreshing  to  see  these  original 
products  of  His  creation.  If  what  is  called 
European  civilization  is  to  spoil  this  happy 
people,  I  for  one  hope  they  will  never  be  tainted 
by  its  influences.  Lafcadio  Hearn  emphatically 
declares  that  '*it  is  not  true  that  old  Japan  is 
rapidly  disappearing.  It  cannot  disappear  within 
at  least  another  hundred  years  ;  perhaps  it  will 
never  entirely  disappear."  I  think  that  must  be 
a  true  statement.      It  was  made  in  1896. 

We  have  spent  several  days  in  this  enchanting 
city,  and  have  put  up  at  the  Myako  Hotel,  a 
rambling  mass  of  wooden  structures  built  on  the 
brow  of  a  hill  like  a  Swiss  chalet,  commanding 
very  fine  views  and  horrible  draughts,  where 
the  entertainment  is  decidedly  European,  though 
the  manners  remain  Eastern,  and  the  bowing 
and  scraping  of  the  domestics  savour  too  much 
of  remuneration  *'in  posse"  to  be  appreciated  as 
politeness  '*in  esse."  In  these  days,  however, 
when    good    breeding  appears    altogether  to   be 


I04  KYOTO 

departing  from  the  West,  even  interested  saluta- 
tions have  their  merit. 

Though  the  weather  has  been  fitfully  disagree- 
able, we  have  wholly  enjoyed  our  visit,  and 
thoroughly  thumb-marked  our  hand-books.  We 
have  ''done  all  the  sights,"  visited  all  the  shops, 
worried  Izuka,  our  excellent  interpreter,  and  tired 
our  jinrickisha  men,  and  the  result  is  a  pleasant 
sensation  of  harmless,  though  selfish,  satisfac- 
tion ;  for  we  have  not  lorded  it  over  any  one, 
envied  anybody,  or  grumbled  over  the  badly- 
constructed  windows,  the  ill-balanced  doors,  and 
the  chinks  and  rents  and  flaws  and  crannies  of 
our  partitioned  chambers  through  which  the  wild 
north  wind  and  snow  found  their  way  to  our 
couches  so  as  to  interrupt  sleep  and  threaten 
lung  disease.  We  had  too  much  to  see  and  to 
think  of  to  mind  such  wintry  inconveniences. 

Kyoto  is  so  rich  in  temples,  in  art,  and  in 
palaces  that  I  rather  wonder  the  work  of  de- 
scribing them  in  detail  and  in  chronological 
order  is  not  undertaken  systematically.  It  would 
necessarily  form  a  work  of  great  bulk,  but  of 
enormous  importance  and  interest. 

What  pages,  for  instance,  could  be  devoted 
to  the  Gosho  Sama  or  the  Emperor's  Palace  ! 
a  building  said  to  cover  twenty-six  acres,  which 
for  seven  centuries  was  the  golden  prison  rather 
than  the  free  habitation  of  the  Mikado,  who  was 
deemed  so  sacred  that  no  one  could  lift  his 
eyes  to  behold  His  Majesty,  and  so  much  of  a 


EMPEROR'S   PALACE  105 

deity  that  he  was  deemed  to  be  incapable  of 
administering  either  his  kingdom  or  any  mortal 
affairs.  His  life  under  such  circumstances  was, 
of  course,  one  quite  unprofaned  by  change, 
and  might  have  been  spent  in  communion  with 
his  ancestors  in  Elysium  for  aught  the  people 
knew.  But  the  Mikado  was  no  Mikado  unless 
he  was  solemnly  enthroned,  and  the  Shi-shin- 
den,  which  means  a  hall  of  mystery,  is  the  hall 
in  the  palace  wherein  the  ceremony  of  enthrone- 
ment took  place.  What  is  curious  is  that  this 
same  hall  witnessed  the  investiture  of  the  Sho- 
guns,  who  had  to  administer  the  temporalities 
of  the  Mikado ;  and  yet  in  Japanese  history, 
which  at  present  is  far  from  being  satisfactory, 
the  Shoguns  have  been  considered  usurpers. 
This  they  decidedly  were  not,  for  they  derived 
their  power  of  administration  from  the  Mikado's 
investiture  just  as  viceroys  or  governors  derive 
their  administrative  authority  from  the  sovereign, 
and  are,  while  in  office,  his  delegates  and  repre- 
sentatives. 

It  may  be  that  the  divine  character  of  the 
Mikado  has  a  good  deal  to  answer  for,  especially 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  present  enlightened 
Sovereign  of  Japan,  that  divine  character  agreed 
with  his  conception  of  duty  towards  his  people. 
It  is  certain  that  the  Shogunate,  which  only 
derived  power  from  the  Mikado  by  an  investi- 
ture, was  tolerated  by  the  people  for  so  many 
centuries  on  the  sole  ground  that  the  sacredness 


io6  KYOTO 

of  their  ruler  must  not  be  profaned  by  the  ad- 
mixture of  mundane  matters,  since  contact  with 
the  world  must  necessarily  desecrate  the  divinity 
in  his  person  ;  and  that  this  view  stood  so  long 
as  it  agreed  with  the  Mikado's  own  perception 
of  his  duty.  But  when  in  1868  the  present 
Mikado  conceived  a  loftier  ideal  of  the  duties  of 
royalty,  and  realized  that  as  head  of  the  State 
his  divine  mission,  if  he  had  one,  would  be 
enhanced  by  his  looking  after  his  subjects  him- 
self, the  necessity  for  a  Viceroy  or  Shogun  ceased, 
since  the  divine  Emperor  no  longer  considered 
that  his  sacred  character  would  be  injured  by  the 
business  of  the  State.  That  this  resolve  should 
have  given  rise  to  protests  is  only  natural  ;  that 
its  fine  meaning  was  not  grasped  all  at  once  is 
matter  of  history,  but  the  ease  with  which  the 
Shoguns  disappeared  when  once  the  truth  was 
revealed,  the  disinterestedness  which  was  dis- 
played when  it  became  certain  that  the  Mikado 
was  the  ruler,  and  the  kind  treatment  meted  out 
to  the  last  Shogun  at  court  after  his  submission, 
show  that  protests,  opposition,  even  insurrection 
had  been  inconsiderate  rather  than  rebellious. 

It  is  an  interesting  chapter  in  Japanese  history 
which  merits  some  attention. 

The  Shoguns  themselves  possess  a  fascination 
of  their  own,  as  they  apparently  monopolized  the 
advantages  of  their  position  during  centuries  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  other  classes  of  nobles, 
whether  Kuge  or  Daimyos,  and  it  is  not  a  little 


THE    SHOGUNS  107 

to  their  credit  that  from  a.d.  i  185,  when  Yoritomo 
defeated  his  rival  of  the  great  Taira  family,  until 
1868,  when  Hitotsu  Bashi,  the  last  Shogun,  sur- 
rendered to  the  present  Emperor,  only  two 
families  in  succession  administered  the  country 
for  the  Mikado,  viz.  the  Ashikaga  and  the 
Tokugawa.  Two  families  for  683  years  !  both 
illustrious  and  both  patrons  of  art :  the  earlier 
one  the  more  gentle  of  the  two,  the  latter  one 
with  finer  record  of  names  great  in  history  : 
Hideyashi — leyasu — lemitsu. 

Their  residence,  Nijo  Castle  in  Kyoto,  is  in- 
finitely finer  than  the  Imperial  Palace,  but  more 
of  a  fortress.  The  two  palaces  display  the 
peculiar  temper  of  the  Japanese.  The  Mikado's 
person  being  sacred  did  not  want  fortified  walls 
around  his  mysterious  domain.  The  Shoguns 
did.  From  the  former  the  Mikado  declared  his 
intention  to  rule  :  from  the  last  he  proclaimed 
the  new  constitution.  Both  palaces  have  hence 
a  past  and  a  present  interest. 

Last  night  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  arrived 
half-frozen,  accompanied  by  all  the  members  of 
the  Garter  Mission  and  a  regular  host  of  distin- 
guished Japanese  attendants,  appointed  by  the 
Emperor  to  do  honour  to  our  King's  nephew. 

The  Prince's  mission  to  Japan  appears  to  have 
given  great  satisfaction,  as  indeed  it  w^as  bound 
to  do,  and  it  has  revealed  popular  feeling  more 
than  one  had  any  right  to  expect.  Any  guest  of 
the  Emperor  would,  I  think,  receive  great  atten- 


io8  KYOTO 

tion  from  the  people  in  accordance  with  their 
Sovereign's  wish,  but  such  reception  would  not 
necessarily  be  spontaneous  and  heartfelt,  whereas 
on  this  occasion  every  Japanese  has  been  told 
the  meaning  of  the  distinction  bestowed  on  their 
Emperor  by  the  King  of  England  ;  and  every 
Japanese,  taking  to  heart  how  England  has  been 
of  use  as  an  ally  of  Japan,  has  resolved  to  show 
his  personal  appreciation.  The  result  is  very 
curious  and  very  gratifying.  Thus  on  our  way 
yesterday  to  the  Tanjin  Sama  Temple  we  passed 
whole  streets  decorated  with  British  and  Japanese 
flags,  in  the  poorest  quarters  of  Kyoto,  where 
there  could  be  no  expectation  of  seeing  the 
Prince,  and  merely  flown  in  honour  of  the 
occasion  of  his  second  visit.  "  Plince  Konnot" 
must  have  been  much  gratified  by  his  reception 
everywhere  ;  he  would  have  been  touched  could 
he  have  seen  these  miserable  little  streets  striving 
their  level  best  to  be  smart  in  his  honour. 

I  had  the  great  gratification  of  being  introduced 
to  admirals  Togo  and  Uriu,  to  General  Kuroki, 
and  to  Count  Nagasaki,  one  of  the  principal 
officers  at  Court,  who  being  a  linguist  has  been 
directed  by  the  Emperor  to  act  as  official  inter- 
preter to  His  Royal  Highness.  I  hope  I  may 
not  off"end  the  modesty  or  pride  of  these  illustrious 
men  by  stating  how  highly  I  appreciated  the 
honour. 


"PERE"   AURIENTIS  log 

Nara,  6  March. 

Japanese  trains  remind  one  of  the  old  German 
"  Bummelziige, "  which  stopped  everywhere  and 
nowhere  simply  for  the  pleasure  of  stopping. 
The  result  of  this  mania  was  that  I  spent  five 
hours  in  the  train  to  perform  a  journey  of  fifty 
miles  to  and  from  Kyoto,  which  should  have  taken 
only  two,  and  that  instead  of  being  interested 
in  the  great  Uji  country,  which  produces  the  best 
tea  in  Japan,  I  had  no  other  wishes  as  to  that  tea 
but  to  leave  it  severely  alone. 

Before  leaving  Kyoto  this  morning,  however, 
I  saw  le  Reverend  Pere  Aurientis,  who  has  been 
twenty-six  years  in  Japan,  and  whose  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Japanese  is  worth  recording.  He 
simply  loves  his  flock,  and  has,  as  he  called  it, 
*'une  veritable  admiration  pour  ces  payens." 
He  thinks  they  are  too  superstitious  ever  to 
become  real  Christians,  and  too  suspicious  of  the 
foreigner  ever  quite  to  fraternize  with  them :  while, 
he  added,  **ils  sont  trop  entiches  de  patriotisme 
national "  ever  to  be  completely  westernized 
except  perhaps  in  outward  forms,  as  they  are  too 
imitative  by  nature  not  to  copy  us  in  all  that 
may  please  or  suit  them.  Speculative  thought 
enabled  me,  therefore,  thanks  to  *'le  bon  pere," 
partially  to  forget  the  annoyances  of  a  slow 
journey  to  Nara. 

The  weather  too  was  unpropitious,  which  was 
really    a   pity ;    for,    in    sunshine,    I   cannot  well 


no  NARA 

imagine  a  more  poetic  or  more  beautiful  situation 
than  that  of  Nara  in  spring-time,  when  hundreds 
come  to  visit  the  exquisite  temples  which  it  owns, 
and  fill  the  magnificent  avenues  of  cryptomeria, 
interspersed  by  innumerable  stone  lanterns,  with 
a  motley  crowd  of  pilgrims  in  variegated  colours, 
all  keen  to  feed  the  sacred  deer  in  the  park, 
or  tie  wisps  of  paper  containing  prayers  for  con- 
jugal felicity  on  a  whimsical  single  tree-trunk 
consisting  of  a  camellia,  a  cherry,  a  wistaria,  a 
maple,  a  thorn,  and  two  other  trees  inextricably 
grown  together,  or  roam  on  Mount  Tamuke,  or 
visit  the  huge  Dai  Butzu  in  the  decaying  temple 
of  Todaiji,  or  get  lost  among  the  myriad  brass 
lanterns  of  Kasuga  no  Miza. 

I  have  not  seen  any  very  satisfactory  reason 
given  why  the  Japanese  have  erected  such 
enormous  Buddhas  as  those  at  Nara,  Kamamura, 
and  recently  at  Kobe.  There  is  no  doubt  some- 
thing grand  in  a  vast  conception  of  the  Infinite, 
but  the  Buddha  of  Buddhism  is  not  infinite. 
That  he  should  be  superior  in  merit  to  other  good 
men  is  not  enough  to  make  him  a  giant  in 
stature.  This  Nara  Buddha,  seated  on  a  lotus 
throne,  is  54  feet  high.  The  hall  which  shelters 
him  is  156  feet  high  and  290  feet  long,  and  the 
whole  is  neither  devotional  nor  impressive,  but  it 
is  a  remarkable  work,  as  it  dates  of  the  year 
A.D.  749,  and  is  of  bronze.  The  great  bells 
at  Osaka,  Kyoto,  and  Nara,  which  are,  after  one 
in   Burmah  and  another  at  Moscow,  the  largest 


JAPANESE    BRONZES  iii 

in  the  world,  are  superior  as  being  older  and 
showing  what  the  Japanese  could  do  in  metal 
work  upwards  of  a  thousand  years  ago.  They 
have  not  improved  since  then,  for  the  Dai  Butzu 
at  Kobe  cannot  compare  with  the  one  at  Nara, 
and  this,  in  turn,  fails  completely  in  comparison 
with  the  beautiful  one  at  Kamakura  dating  about 
the  thirteenth  century,  which  is  really  impressive 
notwithstanding  its  hugeness,  by  its  majesty,  its 
calm,  and  its  peaceful  repose.  These  are  not 
features  easily  reproduced  in  metal,  but  a  thou- 
sand years  ago  bronze  was  well  understood  by  the 
Japanese  metal  worker.  I  often  wondered  what 
Cellini  would  have  thought  of  the  Kamakura 
Dai  Butzu  cast  in  1222,  or  how  the  German 
bronze  artists  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies would  have  envied  their  Asiatic  brothers  of 
the  craft,  in  those  same  centuries,  when  bronze 
work  attained  such  high  distinction  in  Europe. 

I  have  noticed  that  whenever  any  object  of 
art  commands  attention  in  Japan  it  is  the  fashion 
of  guides  and  guide-books — the  two  units  appear 
to  make  one — to  attribute  Japanese  excellence  to 
the  teaching  of  Korean  Buddhist  priests,  who 
have  travelled  in  China  or  in  India  or  both,  thus 
refusing  all  originality  to  the  Japanese  artist. 
This  cannot  be  exact  and  is  decidedly  unfair. 

When  Alexandre  Dumas  senior  was  re- 
proached with  plagiarism,  he  replied,  that  im- 
provement on  a  bad  conception  was  an  original 
invention,  and  that  clothing  a  naked  fact  was  as 


112  NAGOYA 

much  a  work  of  genius  as  discovering  the  fact. 
This  may  be  exaggeration,  but  to  take  bronze 
art  alone  as  an  instance,  the  Dai  Butzu  of 
Kamakura  stands  alone  in  the  highest  regions 
of  that  art,  and  is  a  purely  Japanese  conception 
of  the  Buddha  who  proclaimed  Nirvana  as  the 
supreme  end  of  existence.  No  Greek  or  Roman, 
no  German  or  Italian,  cinque  -  cento  metal 
worker  has  attempted  a  statue  which  at  once  is 
human  and  superhuman,  divine  and  not  divine, 
simple  and  yet  sublime,  restful  and  full  of  life. 
I  should  like  to  see  Theodorus  and  Rhoecus, 
Lysippus,  Myron,  and  Polycletus,  together  with 
the  masters  of  Florence,  Nuremberg,  and  Augs- 
burg, in  contemplation  before  this  wonder  of 
Japanese  skill. 

Nagoya,  id  March. 

We  had  intended  visiting  Otsu  and,  therefore. 
Lake  Biwa,  the  Lugano  of  the  East,  but  we  did 
not.  Murray's  handbook  and  the  weather  are 
not  always  in  agreement.  Scenery  has  a  knack 
of  being  delightful  in  some  circumstances,  hate- 
ful in  others.  Nature's  moods  again  and  bodily 
requirements  are  distinctly  unaccommodating. 
Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  we  overlooked  this 
classic  land  and  came  on  to  Nagoya,  where  we 
found  the  sunshine  and  proper  heat  that  would 
have  suited  Biwa,  while  it  almost  made  Nagoya 
a  land  of  regrets  as,  on  our  way,  we  coasted  the 
southern  shores   of   the  great  lake  and  were  in 


DAI    BUTSU,    NARA 


Face  page  112 


LAKE    BIWA  113 

ecstasy   over  the   beautiful  views   and   mountain 
glimpses  afforded  us. 

Still,  I  am  not  of  an  inconsolable  temperament 
when  nature  plays  freaks  with  my  leisure.  The 
attractions  of  classical  Biwa  are  not,  strictly 
speaking,  such  as  cannot  be  found  elsewhere.  It 
appears  that  they  are  eight  in  number  in  addition 
to  a  scientific  legend  of  some  antiquity.  The 
legend  dates  two  centuries  before  Christ,  when 
an  earthquake  gave  birth  at  the  same  time  to 
this  lake,  which  is  320  feet  deep  in  parts,  and 
to  the  volcano  Fuji  San,  12,390  feet  high  ; 
and  the  eight  attractions  are:  "the  autumn 
moon  as  seen  from  Ishiyama,  the  evening  snow 
on  Hirayama,  the  sunset  glow  at  Seta,  the 
evening  bells  of  Miidera,  the  boats  at  Yabase, 
the  breeze  at  Awazu,  the  rain  at  night  at 
Karasaki,  and  the  wild  geese  at  Katata."  What's 
in  a  name?  Any  European  mountain,  even 
Snowdon  or  Ben  Nevis,  covered  with  snow  at 
sunset,  or  the  Cheviots  washed  with  rain  at  night 
and  swept  by  strong  easterly  breezes,  can  ap- 
peal to  those  who  know  not  the  inconveniences 
of  neuralgia  or  rheumatism,  but  to  any  ex- 
perienced mortal  even  the  sight  of  a  boat  on 
Virginia  Water  is  reminiscent  of  pleasures  hence- 
forth to  be  shunned.  That  is  why  my  apologies 
are  due  to  Lake  Biwa.  I  am  not  sure  that  we 
do  not  equally  owe  apologies  to  Nagoya,  for, 
although  we  came  armed  with  the  necessary 
permits  and  actually  did  visit  in  detail  the  famous 


i  14  NAGOYA 

Castle,  the  seat  of  the  Daimyos  of  Owari,  de- 
scendants of  the  great  leyasu,  to  whose  second 
son  it  was  presented  by  his  nobles,  I  fear  we 
neglected  other  sights  in  order  to  profit  by  the 
good  luck  which  made  us  arrive  on  a  popular  holi- 
day, viz.  to  spend  our  time  with  the  people,  watch 
their  behaviour,  and  share  their  amusements. 

It  was  fortunate  that  one  of  the  latter  consisted 
in  visiting  the  great  Pagoda  or  five-storied  donjon, 
on  the  top  of  which  are  some  famous  dolphins  in 
gold,  and  in  ascending  the  extremely  steep  steps 
that  lead  up  to  the  highest  story,  else  we  might 
have  possibly  missed  even  this  monument ;  we 
joined  the  crowd,  helped  the  babes  and  infants 
up  the  steps,  conversed  with  every  one,  as- 
tonished most  of  them,  made  all  roar  with 
laughter,  apparently  for  no  reason  at  all,  and 
were  supremely  contented  with  our  motley  com- 
panions, of  whom  there  cannot  have  been  less 
than  five  hundred  when  we  went  up. 

A  very  extensive  view  is  obtained  from  the  top 
of  the  donjon  right  down  to  the  Pacific  and 
across  a  most  fertile  plain,  but  what  riveted  our 
attention  was  a  race-course,  a  fair,  and  what 
seemed  to  be  a  band-stand  on  which  wrestling 
was  going  on.  We  promptly  forgot  leyasu  and 
his  acts  of  valour,  as  well  as  all  the  deeds  of  the 
Owari  family,  and  hastened  to  the  wrestling 
arena. 

The  whole  of  the  vast  plain  at  the  foot  of  the 
castle  was  covered  with  human  beings.      Round 


DAI    BUT.-5L,    KAMAKLRA 


Face  page  114 


DRESS    AND   CIGAR  115 

the  race-course  were  rows  of  boxes  neatly  matted 
and  filled  with  the  families  of  officers  and  the 
better  classes,  competing  in  the  seemingly  delect- 
able occupation  of  eating  sweets,  peeling  oranges, 
and  smoking  cigarettes.  All  the  ladies  appeared 
to  have  donned  their  holiday  attire  and  to  have 
dressed  their  offspring  in  the  gayest  colours. 
Kimonos  and  obis,  and  combs  and  hair-pins  vied 
in  richness  and  value.  Indeed,  there  was  no 
difference  between  ladies  in  boxes  at  the  races 
in  Europe  and  these  ladies  in  boxes  at  the 
races  at  Nagoya,  so  far  as  female  competition 
in  dress  is  concerned,  but  it  was  infinitely  more 
picturesque  because  it  was  infinitely  less  laboured. 
I  understand  that  Japanese  dress  is  on  a  sliding 
scale.  It  is  most  gorgeous  in  the  earliest  years 
of  childhood,  and  gradually  works  down  to 
severe  simplicity  as  age  obtains.  This  is  satis- 
factory, as  it  does  give  a  clue  to  the  age  of  the 
Japanese,  without  which  it  would  be  almost  im- 
possible to  guess  it.  In  Austria  you  can  tell 
approximately  in  what  teens  the  lady  revels  by 
the  length  of  the  cigar  she  smokes.  It  is  always 
comforting  to  have  something  accurate  to  start 
from  in  the  calculation  of  female  age. 

As  to  the  racing  itself  it  did  not  look  as  if  any- 
body particularly  cared  whether  anything  was 
running  or  not.  In  the  course  of  a  good  half- 
hour,  I  think  I  saw  a  horse  and  I  know  I  saw  a 
bicycle,  but  whether  they  raced  or  not  I  cannot 
tell,  for  the  field  being  apparently  very  poor,  we 


ii6  NAGOYA 

made  for  the  wrestling  ground,  which  was  packed 
full.  Owing  to  our  guide's  influence  we  were 
allowed  within  the  treasured  precincts,  but  had 
no  more  than  standing-room,  and,  during  each 
contest,  swayed  to  and  fro  with  the  approving  or 
disapproving  crowd,  to  the  detriment  of  much  of 
our  person  but  greatly  to  our  enjoyment  of  a 
unique  scene. 

On  a  raised  platform  a  man  with  a  fan,  who 
acted  as  master  of  the  ceremonies  and  also  as 
umpire,  called  solemnly  the  names  of  the  com- 
petitors, who  were  all  seated  in  a  row  opposite 
to  where  we  stood,  enveloped  in  cloaks  of  which 
they  divested  themselves  when  their  turn  to 
wrestle  arrived. 

As  they  appeared  naked,  ready  for  the  struggle, 
the  crowd  groaned  or  buzzed  approbation  accord- 
ing to  the  muscle  shown,  or  maybe  according  to 
the  reputation  of  the  athlete,  but  it  was  quite 
clear  that  the  contest  was  highly  popular.  I  felt 
for  a  very  long  time  after  that  indeed  it  was  so. 
The  frog -jumps  which  precede  the  wrestling 
must  be  peculiar  to  the  East,  and  are  not  at  all 
graceful,  but  they  form  evidently  part  of  the 
game,  as  all  indulged  in  the  contortion. 

Sand  was  freely  used,  and  on  no  single  occasion 
did  we  notice  a  kick  or  an  unfair  grip.  Many  a 
time  we  thought  the  combatants  would  fall  off 
the  platform,  but  something  occurred  on  each 
occasion  which  corresponded  to  call  for  time,  and 
the  vigilant  umpire  in  a  dignified  manner  invari- 


WRESTLERS  117 

ably  saved  the  situation  and  an  accident  by  the 
breadth  of  a  hair. 

I  do  not  know  where  these  athletes  come  from, 
but  they  must  be  a  breed  apart,  for  they  are 
almost  giants,  and  very  fat  giants  too,  while 
they  have  nothing  of  Japanese  charm  about  their 
voluptuous  and  coarse  expressions.  Yet  they  are 
like  children  in  the  hands  of  the  umpire,  and  no 
doubt  live  for  nothing  else  than  to  master  "the 
forty-eight  falls  which  alone  are  permitted  by  the 
laws  of  the  sport."  After  a  while  we  sauntered 
away  into  the  crowd  and  were  delighted  with  its 
resemblance  to  a  good-natured  British  rabble  on 
St.  Lubbock's  Day. 

At  dinner  at  the  Hotel  Nagoya  the  manager 
came  to  show  us  a  bill  of  fare  which  he  intended 
to  send  to  the  printer  on  the  morrow,  and 
request  us  kindly  to  correct  or  alter  it  as  we 
might  deem  advisable  ;  his  object  being  ''to  lay 
before  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught,  who 
was  in  two  days'  time  to  honour  his  establishment, 
the  most  perfect  specimen  of  the  British  language 
that  could  be  produced  in  Nagoya  !" 

We  added  a  word  here,  changed  another  there, 
and  suppressed  a  third  somewhere  else.  We 
then  departed,  our  hearts  full  of  hope  that  the 
printer  next  day  would  not  play  ducks  and  drakes 
with  our  loyal  attempt  to  second  the  hotel  man- 
ager in  presenting  an  English  prince  with  a 
menu  which  should  not  contain  ''extracts  of 
fowl,"  or  "St.  Julian  wine  bottled  by  Bordeaux." 


ii8  YOKOHAMA 

Yokohama,  ii  March. 

We  have  had  an  experience  of  travelling  which 
should  not  be  repeated.  Owing  to  some  mistake 
or  blunder  or  official  intrusion  we  were  unable  to 
get  seats  in  the  sleeping-cars,  and  travelled  all 
night  in  a  compartment  filled  with  Japanese 
warriors  returning  from  Manchuria,  and  appar- 
ently so  hungry  as  not  to  permit  a  single  station 
to  be  passed  without  loud  calls  for  *'Bento."  I 
have  taken  a  positive  dislike  to  this  word,  which 
means  Japanese  luncheon  in  Japanese  boxes.  It 
was  annoying  for  us,  who  had  dined,  to  find  other 
people  clamouring  for  luncheon,  and  it  was  dis- 
tressing to  find  such  a  clamour  lasting  through 
the  hours  of  sleep.  It  was  still  more  disagreeable 
to  endeavour  to  sleep  through  the  noisy  calls 
within  and  the  noisier  calls  from  without  our 
crowded  carriage.  Only  one  lady,  the  wife  of  an 
officer,  diversified  the  monotony  of  our  male 
attires,  and  it  was  quite  interesting  to  note  how 
she  scrambled  on  to  her  seat,  arranged  her  rug 
and  her  kimono  for  a  rest,  then  squatted  in  correct 
fashion,  and  composed  herself  to  sleep  with  her 
hand  to  her  face  and  without  fear  of  any  ruffle  to 
her  dress  or  her  hair.  It  was  the  neatest  feminine 
drill  I  had  ever  witnessed,  and  it  spoke  eloquently 
for  national  neatness  and  skill. 

There  are  three  or  four  things  outside  Murray's 
guide-book  which  deserve  notice  in  Yokohama  ; 
one  is  the  tempting  shop  of  Samurai  Chokai,  the 


COMMODORE   PERRY  119 

second  the  library  of  Kelly  and  Walsh,  the  third 
the  elevated  portion  of  the  town,  called  the 
Bluff,  and  the  fourth  the  art  treasures  which  the 
well-to-do  merchants  possess  and  only  show  to 
each  other  and  very  seldom  to  foreigners. 

I  heard  of  this  on  the  Bluff,  found  an  art 
journal  called  the  *'Kokka"  at  Kelly  and  Walsh's, 
discovered  the  possessor  of  a  genuine  Sesshu  at 
Samurai  Chokai's,  and  was  driven  to  see  it  at 
eight  o'clock  one  morning  by  the  head  of  Chokai's 
establishment,  Mr.  Nemura.  This  expedition 
proved  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  many  I 
undertook  in  this  truly  captivating  land. 

In  the  first  place  I  was  to  see  for  myself  how 
beautifully  kept  are  the  gardens  and  houses  of  the 
Japanese  however  humble  their  condition,  and 
how  gorgeous  are  the  riches  which  hardly  ever 
see  the  light. 

Mr.  Tomitaro  Hara,  a  rich  silk  merchant 
devoted  to  art  and  a  friend  of  Mr.  Nemura,  the 
dealer,  had  fixed  an  early  appointment  for  me  to 
see  his  treasures  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  his 
business  hours.  He  has  pitched  his  tent,  if  a 
very  fine  house  can  be  so  called,  on  a  charming 
eminence  overlooking  the  placid  and  blue  waters 
of  the  Mississipi  Bay.  Yokohama  geography  is 
very  much  filled  up  by  names  of  American  origin, 
owing  to  the  enterprise  of  Commodore  Perry,  of 
the  United  States,  who  anchored  here  in  1854, 
and  who,  in  truth,  was  the  first  who  opened  Japan 
to  the  world.      I  have  mentioned  at  Nagasaki  the 


120  YOKOHAMA 

names  of  those  whose  statue  Japan,  which  is  a 
grateful  country,  should  erect,  and  I  would  add 
in  Yokohama  that  of  the  American  Commodore, 
inasmuch  as  but  for  him  the  Japanese  would 
doubtless  have  remained  in  obscurity  till  now, 
and  would  never  have  benefited  by  that  inter- 
course with  the  West  which  has  ensured  their 
present  fame.  I  believe  a  memorial  has  been 
erected  at  Usaga,  the  spot  where  he  landed,  but 
not  through  Japanese  initiative.  It  has  been  truly 
remarked  that  'Ho  have  broken  down  Japan's 
stubborn  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  existence  of 
foreigners,  to  have  obliged  her  to  make  treaties 
of  commerce  and  amity  with  Christian  countries, 
to  have  plunged  her  into  confusion  and  blood- 
shed, and  to  have  regenerated  her  institutions, 
ideas,  and  aims  on  Western  lines  is  the  result  of 
Commodore  Perry's  visit,"  and  I  venture  to  add 
that  such  a  result,  barring  the  bloodshed,  deserves 
the  gratitude  of  intelligent  Japan,  and  should  stir 
her  to  show  her  gratitude  to  the  West. 

When  slippers  had  been  substituted  for  boots, 
and  we  were  installed  in  the  principal  reception 
room,  which,  for  all  furniture,  contained  but  one 
kakemono  and  a  screen  ;  when  braziers,  tea,  and 
cigarettes  had  been  brought  and  deposited  before 
Tomitaro  Hara,  his  two  sons,  myself,  and  Mr. 
Nemura;  and  when  a  respectful  aged  assistant  had 
taken  his  place  near  the  sliding  panels  so  as  to  be 
at  hand  if  required,  I  opened  out  the  question 
whether  I  might  be  deemed  worthy  of  a  sight  of 


PRIEST-PAINTER   SESSHU  121 

Sesshu's  landscape,  never  having  seen  any  speci- 
men of  this  great  artist's  work,  upon  which  a  sign 
was  given  to  the  attendant,  who  departed  and 
presently  returned  with  two  lacquer  boxes,  out  of 
which  a  scroll  was  taken  measuring  between  forty 
and  fifty  feet  in  length  and  only  S^  in.  in  height, 
which  was  displayed  on  the  floor  for  our  inspec- 
tion, or  as  much  of  it  as  the  room  permitted  at 
one  time. 

We  then  crawled  up  to  it,  and  as  my  hosts 
observed  my  evident  interest  and  admiration  they 
unbent  considerably,  and  in  a  very  short  time  we 
were  hotly  engaged  in  what  may  be  called  a 
contest  of  praise  rather  than  of  criticism. 

For  my  part  I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  in 
point  of  delicacy  of  delineation,  appreciation  of 
space  and  distance,  sober  colouring  and  true 
rendering  of  nature  I  know  nothing  of  Poussin  or 
Salvator  Rosa  equal  to  this  Japanese  masterpiece 
of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  priest  Sesshu,  according  to  Mr.  Sei-ichi 
Taki  in  the  '  'Japanese  Art  Journal, "  the  ' '  Kokka" 
No.  189,  ''embodied  in  himself  the  essence  of 
the  culture  and  refinement  of  the  Ashikaga  period 
in  which  he  was  born  (1420-1506),  and  produced 
works  unsurpassed  in  breadth  of  spirit  and  in 
mastery  of  nature.  Sometimes  powerful  and 
vigorous,  and  at  other  times  rich  in  grace  and 
delicacy,  his  style  is  difficult  of  analysis,  especially 
where  he  plays  with  nature  and  indulges  in  the 
free  expression  of  his  imagination." 


iM  YOKOHAMA 

This  passage,  I  think,  does  not  at  all  render 
Mr.  Sei-ichi  Taki's  own  thoughts  or  what  he 
wished  to  convey  ;  for  the  admirable  panorama 
we  beheld  was  uniform  in  excellence  and  by  no 
means  sporadic  in  power,  in  vigour,  in  grace,  or 
delicacy.  These  were  made  subservient  to  the 
particular  scenery  to  be  depicted,  and  it  is  prob- 
ably in  this  sense  that  the  Japanese  critic  writes, 
for  a  storm  coming  on  is  rendered  with  quite 
another  touch  than  the  tranquil  sea  and  peaceful 
cottages.  What  perhaps  surprised  me  most  of 
all  was  the  intensity  of  life  observable  throughout. 
Even  a  horse,  which,  as  I  insisted,  is  the  one 
animal  in  creation  which  the  Japanese  cannot 
paint,  and  which  even  this  great  artist  had  un- 
scientifically delineated,  showed  in  its  half- 
delineation  all  the  burden  which  he  was  made  to 
carry,  and  all  the  boredom  which  such  weight 
must  be  to  a  conscientious  quadruped  on  a  hot 
summer's  day.  It  was  admirable  from  the  first 
inch  to  the  five-hundredth. 

As  a  matter  of  course  I  was  told  that  Sesshu 
was  a  Korean  priest  who  had  lived  in  China  and 
was  so  imbued  with  Chinese  ideals  as  to  make 
every  Japanese  scenery  an  idealized  China.  If  it 
be  granted  at  the  outset  that  art  had  its  birth  in 
China,  I  think  that  is  sufficient  acknowledgment, 
because  I  cannot  admit  that,  for  an  artist,  sur- 
roundings have  no  influence,  and,  consequently, 
that  Sesshu,  having  spent  his  life  in  Japan,  was 
not   influenced   by    its    unique   scenery.      In   the 


KANO    SCHOOL  123 

particular  picture  I  saw  it  was  a  kaleidoscopic 
display  of  Japanese  rocks,  mountains,  lakes, 
seas,  gardens,  woods,  trees,  flowers,  storm,  sun- 
shine, rain,  stillness,  in  a  word,  Japanese  natural 
beauties  so  blended  as  to  suggest  a  continuous 
story  of  out-of-door  Japanese  life. 

In  the  history  of  Japanese  Art,  critics  have 
either  been  too  enthusiastic  or  too  much  the 
reverse,  and  the  Japanese  themselves  have  been 
too  devoted  to  certain  schools  to  be  quite  fair  to 
others. 

Everywhere  works  of  the  Kano  school  are 
pointed  out  as  the  last  expression  of  admirable 
classicism  in  Art,  and  hence  every  temple, 
museum,  or  palace  contains  a  number  of  Kanos, 
and  is  certified  to  be  worth  a  visit  because  of 
this  great  name.  But  no  one  points  out  that  the 
second  Kano  (Motonobu)  was  a  greater  artist 
than  his  father  Masanobu,  and  that  for  three 
hundred  years  since  their  day  their  followers  and 
imitators  have  all  been  called  Kanos  from  the 
founders  of  their  peculiar  classical  school,  with  no 
particular  merit  which  could  raise  them  above 
original  painters  like  Sesshu — Cho  Densu — and 
at  a  much  later  date  Hokusai  and  Kwatei  Taki, 
who  took  nature  as  their  guide.  Cho  Densu  has 
been  called  the  Fra  Angelico  of  Japan.  I  really 
do  not  know  why,  or  even  see  in  what  respect. 
It  is  true  he  was  a  monk,  and  that  he  devoted  his 
life  to  painting  "rakans,"  or  perfected  disciples 
of  Buddha,  a  whole  series  of  which  can  be  seen 


124  YOKOHAMA 

at  Kioto  in  the  Tofukugi  Temple,  but  not  one  of 
his  emaciated  rakans  wears  the  happy  look  of  Fra 
Angelico's  angels.  They  have  the  merit,  however, 
of  being  drawn  from  nature  and  of  being  less 
idealistic  than  the  Italian  monk's  work.  As  to 
Hokusai,  who  only  died  in  1849  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty-nine,  the  popularity  of  his  style  is 
entirely  due  to  the  nationality  of  his  tastes,  but 
he  can  scarcely  be  called  a  great  master  of  a 
great  school.  I  would  even  not  mention  him  at 
all  were  it  not  that  he  has  nothing  of  Chinese 
traditions  in  his  style,  and  loftily  disregarded 
the  old  classical  lines  for  what  he  himself  saw  in 
nature. 

A  more  agreeable  painter,  and  I  think  a  far 
greater  artist,  but  quite  of  recent  times,  is  Kwatei 
Taki,  whose  loss  will  not  be  easily  replaced.  In 
the  great  range  of  Art  it  is  difficult  to  find  birds 
and  flowers  so  splendidly  rendered,  or,  for  in- 
stance, a  lonely  sea -shore  more  marvellously 
painted.  He,  too,  is  great  of  Japanese  greatness, 
not  of  stiff  Chinese  conventional  teaching.  And 
all  these  are  Japanese  celebrities  whose  works  we 
have  come  so  far  to  see  and  deservedly  to  admire. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  though  Japan 
possesses  a  school  of  art  founded  in  the  year 
1000  of  our  era,  there  does  not  appear  to  have 
been,  or  to  be,  any  desire  on  the  part  of  masters 
or  students  to  paint  portraits  from  life,  which  is 
all  the  more  singular,  seeing  that  in  bronze  or  in 
ivory  or  in  wood  the  most  perfect  renderings  of 


A   GREAT   SCROLL  125 

facial  expression  are  everywhere  to  be  met  with, 
and  I  can  only  suppose  that  this  is  in  a  way 
connected  with  some  national  prejudice  of  which 
we  still  do  not  possess  the  clue. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  points  to  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  East  and  the  West,  the  Japanese 
nation,  I  fear,  is  yet  an  imperfectly  known 
treasure,  kept  wrapped  in  a  lacquer  box  and 
stored  in  a  fire-proof  shelter,  only  to  be  brought 
out  to  Western  view  occasionally,  like  Mr.  Hara's 
Sesshu,  when  the  dazzling  merits  of  its  powers 
stand  revealed  but  the  present  national  modesty 
causes  it  quickly  to  be  shut  up  once  more. 

If  I  had  seen  nothing  else  but  this  great  scroll 
Yokohama  would  always  hold  a  high  position  in 
my  memory.  I  must,  however,  postpone  further 
remarks,  as  we  must  hurry  on  to  the  capital, 
viz.  to  Yedo  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  Tokyo. 


CHAPTER   VI 


Tokyo     . 

Ronius. 

Tokyo     . 

Education 

NiKKO       . 

Temples. 

Tokyo,  15  March. 

FROM  1590  to  1868  this  was  the  capital  of  the 
Shoguns.  In  1868  the  Shogunate  came  to 
an  end  and  the  Mikado  migrated  from  Myako  to 
Yedo ;  that  is  to  say,  from  Kioto  to  Tokyo. 
This  simple  statement  means  a  great  deal  in  the 
history  of  Japan,  for  it  implies  all  that  great 
change  in  the  constitution  of  the  country,  in  the 
ways  of  the  people,  in  the  life  of  Japan  which  is 
still  in  process  of  formation,  and  which,  when  it 
reaches  a  halting-point,  will  reveal  whether  the 
Japanese  are  to  remain  Eastern  or  to  be  com- 
pletely westernized. 

If  looked  at  from  a  mere  political  point  of 
view,  the  change  has  already  operated  for  good. 
There  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  as  to  who  is 
the  supreme  lord  of  the  land  ;  or  any  question 
as  to  the  subordination  of  all  subjects  to  the 
imperial  authority.  I  say  this  because  it  is 
amusing  to  read  how,  only  forty  years  since,  dis- 

126 


LORD   ELGIN    AND    BARON   GROS  127 

tinguished  diplomatists  of  Eng-land  and  of  France 
were  puzzled  by  the  mysterious  Mikado  and  the 
royal  Shoguns.  In  a  volume  of  pleasant  remini- 
scences, as  well  as  descriptive  of  the  late  '*  Garter 
Mission "  to  Japan,  Lord  Redesdale  attributes 
the  mistakes  made  by  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron 
Gros  in  1859  to  the  vague  notions  which  then 
existed  about  Japan,  notions  "mostly  derived 
from  the  Dutch";  and  to  **the  nonsense  which 
they  (the  Dutch)  wrote  about  a  Spiritual  and 
a  Temporal  Emperor."  This  may  do  for  most 
people,  but  is  scarcely  acceptable  as  an  excuse 
for  blunders  by  diplomatists.  These  two  reputed 
envoys  had  to  negotiate  treaties  of  amity  and  of 
commerce.  It  was  surely  incumbent  upon  them 
to  discover  with  whom  resided  the  power  to  bind 
the  nation  by  a  signature,  and  to  make  sure  which 
''of  the  Spiritual  or  Temporal  Emperor"  was 
the  person  in  supreme  authority.  That  they 
apparently  did  not  do  this  is  the  less  intelligible, 
because  it  must  have  been  clear  to  them  that 
the  Shoguns'  authority  could  only  be  derived 
from  some  delegation  of  power  and  hence  from 
some  higher  authority  than  their  own,  and  that 
their  first  step  should  have  been  to  make  sure 
from  what  authority  their  power  was  derived. 
When,  therefore.  Lord  Redesdale  relates  that 
the  Shoguns  passed  themselves  off  on  these 
diplomatists  as  the  supreme  authority  in  the  land, 
the  fault  does  not  so  much  lie  with  them  or  with 
the  Dutch,  as  with  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros 


128  TOKYO 

who  never  ascertained  the  facts.  Sir  Harry  Parkes 
five  years  later  obliged  the  Mikado  to  ratify  the 
treaties,  which,  until  his  signature  was  obtained, 
were  nothing  but  waste  paper.  A  witty  French 
lady  once  wrote  :  ''II  faut  beaucoup  d'esprit  pour 
etre  infiniment  bon";  and  the  amiable  conclusion 
is  that  had  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros  been  less 
excellent  diplomatists  they  would  not  have  been 
deceived  and  laughed  at  by  the  Shogun  lyemochi 
on  their  first  negotiations  with  the  Japanese,  and 
this  shows  that  one  might  equally  add  :  *'  II  faut 
moins  de  bonte  pour  etre  intelligent." 

This,  however,  cannot  recur,  and  Tokyo  is  the 
official  capital  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Emperor  and  of  the  diplomatists 
accredited  to  his  Court.  Tokyo  is  even  interest- 
ing in  other  ways,  whether  as  the  abode  of  wise 
Governments,  of  earnest  Chambers,  or  as  the 
centre  of  that  wonderful  educational  impetus 
which  has  lifted  Japan  in  so  short  a  time  from 
obscurity  to  splendour.  It  is  more  ;  for  while  it 
is  the  embodiment  of  modern  or  Western  pro- 
gress in  Eastern  fields  of  thought  and  manners, 
it  remains  the  repository  of  old-fashioned  Japanese 
conservatism,  before  which  incense  is  daily  burnt 
at  the  shrine  of  the  forty-seven  Ronins.  Are  not 
the  Ronins  the  real  idols  of  the  people  ? 

The  city  itself  is  a  puzzling  compound  of  con- 
tradictions. It  seems  to  be  wealthy  and  is  really 
poor  ;  it  is  full  of  bustle  and  yet  calm  ;  it  is  noisy 
and    peaceful  ;    it    displays    refinement  and    bad 


NONDESCRIPT  YEDO  129 

taste,  simplicity  and  pretension.  Stone  buildings 
of  modern  conception  look  down  on  wooden 
temples  of  great  age.  Fine  villas  and  broad 
avenues  are  mixed  up  with  tiny  huts  and  tinier 
streets,  and  the  great  Ueno  Park,  a  truly  Japanese 
conception,  commands  a  view  over  the  most 
modern-looking  thoroughfare  in  Japan.  Seen 
from  an  eminence,  Tokyo  resembles  an  over- 
grown mushroom  ;  seen  from  the  level,  it  looks 
like  a  series  of  small  villages  strung  together 
by  bridges  ;  ships  and  houses  happily  commingle, 
and  there  is  hardly  a  district  that  does  not  look 
as  if  it  wished  to  apologize  for  not  being  dressed 
according  to  the  correct  standard  either  of  native 
or  modern  fashion.  Is  old  Yedo  really  under- 
going transformation?  It  certainly  is  more 
nondescript  at  present  than  one  expects  it  to  be, 
and  I  grieve  to  add  does  not  look  as  prosperous 
as  one  would  wish  or  as  it  pretends,  if  it  does 
pretend. 

In  truth,  the  Emperor  and  his  counsellors  were 
wise  to  make  peace  when  they  did  ;  for  if  the 
war  was  exceptionally  glorious  in  the  national 
annals  of  the  country,  there  are  unmistakable 
signs  everywhere  that  the  people's  patriotism  was 
exceptionally  tried,  and  that  it  will  require  many 
years  of  peace  to  give  this  noble-hearted  nation 
that  plenty  of  which  it  bereft  itself  *'pro  patria 
at  Imperatore." 

We  shall  probably  never  know  the  extent  of 
personal    sacrifice    that    was    imposed    on    every 


K 


I30  TOKYO 

Japanese  so  as  to  cope  with  the  terrible  expendi- 
ture necessary  to  carry  on  the  war,  nor  the  full 
measure  of  the  losses  which  the  country  suffered, 
but  there  is  hardly  a  shop  which,  among  its  wares, 
does  not  harbour  a  sad  little  story  of  how  heir- 
looms came  to  be  sold  or  pawned  so  as  to  enable 
their  formerly  well-to-do  possessors  to  contribute 
something,  whether  to  the  Red  Cross  Society  or 
to  help  the  less  fortunate  among  themselves. 

I  was  shown  an  admirable  and  perfect  lacquer 
dinner  set  of  great  antiquity,  which  had  once 
belonged  to  a  Daimio,  and  which  was  pawned  by 
a  lady,  one  of  his  descendants,  solely  that  she 
might  hand  its  value  in  cash  to  the  Red  Cross 
Society.  It  was  pawned  for  looo  yen  (^loo). 
When  the  war  was  over  the  lady  had  no  further 
use  for  her  service.  All  her  sons  and  male  rela- 
tives were  dead.  The  pawnbroker  bought  the 
service  by  giving  her  the  difference  between  the 
loan  and  the  real  value,  and  that  balance  she 
gave  away  to  the  orphans  of  the  war. 

In  learning  to  understand  the  Japanese,  one 
comes  across  so  many  instances  of  self-abnega- 
tion and  of  tenderness  of  heart,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  comprehend  all  at  once  how  they  can  be  both 
impulsive  and  calculating,  kind  and  revengeful, 
loving  and  hating,  humble  and  vain. 

It  is  recorded  that  in  the  sixteenth  century 
St.  Francis  Xavier  found  the  Japanese  so  attrac- 
tive that  he  styled  them  ''the  delight  of  his 
soul";  that  Kampfer  in  the  seventeenth  declared 


POVERTY   AS    INFLUENCE  131 

that  "in  the  practice  of  virtue  and  purity  they 
far  outdid  Christians  "  ;  and  that  in  the  following 
centuries  other  observers  noted  that  "they  had 
great  talents,  but  little  genius,"  "were  practical, 
but  superficial  withal,"  possessed  a  "keenness  of 
perception  far  in  advance  of  the  soundness  of 
their  judgment." 

All  this  makes  for  contradictions  in  tempera- 
ment and  not  at  all  for  greatness,  and  yet  they 
cannot  be  altogether  what  they  seemed  to  the 
above  authorities,  or  they  never  would  have  risen 
to  their  present  standing.  Lafcadio  Hearn,  who, 
I  cannot  help  thinking,  knew  the  Japanese  more 
intimately  than  any  other  foreigner,  derived  his 
delight  in  them  from  "their  simplicity  and 
naturalness."  In  one  of  his  books  he  declares 
that  "the  charm  of  Japanese  life  presents  us 
with  the  extraordinary  phenomenon  of  poverty 
as  an  influence  in  the  development  of  aesthetic 
sentiment.  But  for  poverty  the  race  could  not 
have  discovered  the  divine  art  of  creating  the 
beautiful  out  of  nothing  or  the  keen  pleasure  they 
find  in  everything  natural,  in  landscapes,  mists, 
clouds,  sunsets,  in  the  sight  of  birds,  insects,  and 
flowers."  Poverty,  no  doubt,  acts  differently  on 
different  constitutions.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  in  Japan  it  leads  to  sestheticism,  for  it  de- 
cidedly operates  differently  in  the  West,  but  even 
aesthetic  poverty  does  not  account  for  the  con- 
tradictions of  Japanese  character  in  the  eyes  of 
a  European. 


132  TOKYO 

How  can  the  Renins,  a  set  of  deliberate  cut- 
throats, have  become  the  heroes  of  the  gentle 
Japanese?  How  can  St.  Francis  Xavier  have 
found  ''his  delight"  in  a  people  whose  creed  was 
the  duty  of  revenge  ? 

The  Renins  should  give  one  a  key  to  the 
yet  imperfectly  apprehended  temper  of  a  people 
who  are  at  once  capable  of  the  grandest 
acts  of  heroism  and  the  meanest  acts  of  petty 
revenge. 

The  story  of  the  Renins  is  well  known.  It 
was  first  revealed  to  Europe  by  Lord  Redesdale 
(A.  B.  Mitford)  in  his  quite  delightful  ''Tales  of 
Old  Japan,"  and  has  been  repeated  a  dozen  times 
in  abridged  form  by  other  writers.  In  unsym- 
pathetic English  the  story  is  one  rather  savouring 
of  disgrace  than  of  honour,  but  any  traveller  can 
observe  how  honoured  are  these  forty-seven  mur- 
derers by  watching  the  hundreds  of  devotees  who 
daily  flock  to  Sengakuji  to  burn  incense  at  their 
tombs  in  the  cemetery,  and  look  at  their  relics  in 
the  museum.  We  saw  more  true  devotional  feel- 
ing exhibited  at  these  tombs  than  at  all  the  mag- 
nificent temples  we  visited. 

Ronin  really  means  a  rover,  and  "designated 
persons  of  gentle  blood  entitled  to  bear  arms," 
who,  having  become  separated  from  their  feudal 
lords  by  their  own  act,  or  by  dismissal,  or  by 
fate,  wandered  about  the  country  in  the  capacity 
of  somewhat  disreputable  knights  errant,  without 
any  ostensible  means  of  living,    in   some  cases 


FORTY-SEVEN    RONINS  133 

offering  themselves  for  hire  to  new  masters,  in 
others  supporting  themselves  by  pillage.^ 

Told  very  briefly  the  history  is  this  :  Forty- 
seven  of  these  disreputable  knights  errant — one 
Oishi  Kuranosuke  being  their  leader — formed  a 
league  to  kill  the  Lord  Kotsuke  no  Suke  because 
he  had  escaped  from  the  anger  of  their  infuriated 
Lord  Asano  Takumi  no  Kami,  who  had  been  re- 
quired to  tie  the  ribbon  of  his  sock,  and  been 
blamed  for  doing  it  awkwardly. 

Unfortunately  the  Lord  Takumi's  anger  had 
exploded  in  the  Shogun's  palace,  which  was  then 
graced  by  the  presence  of  an  imperial  envoy  of 
the  Mikado,  and  it  was  decided  that  according  to 
law  Takumi  no  Kami  must  perform  hara-kiri  and 
his  retainers  must  disband.  There  were  forty- 
seven  of  them,  who  on  disbanding  disguised 
themselves  so  as  to  elude  further  observation. 
Kotsuke,  the  better  to  deceive,  turned  drunkard, 
divorced  his  wife,  repudiated  his  children,  and 
even  permitted  himself  to  be  insulted  so  as  to  make 
believe  that  he  was  a  fallen  Samurai.  His  com- 
panions became  workmen — plasterers,  architects, 
carpenters — and  sought  employment  in  the  Lord 
Kotsuke  no  Suke's  house,  made  themselves 
familiar  with  the  arrangement  of  the  different 
rooms,  and  drew  up  a  plan  of  the  building, 
which  is  still  shown.  All  being  ready  and  the 
Lord  Kotsuke  being  off  his  guard,  the  forty- 
seven  Ronins  "one  night  during  a  heavy  fall  of 

»  "Tales  of  Old  Japan." 


134  TOKYO 

snow"  planned  how  that  very  evening"  they  should 
attack  the  house  from  two  sides,  kill  Kotsuke  no 
Suke,  and  report  the  deed  to  the  Government  as 
soon  as  the  head  had  been  carried  to  Sengakuji 
and  offered  up  before  the  tomb  of  their  dead  lord, 
the  Lord  Asano  Takumi  no  Kami.  They  did  not 
succeed  at  once,  for  there  was  great  resistance, 
during  which  Kuranosuke  made  several  appeals 
to  his  followers.  One  of  these  exhortations  called 
on  his  followers,  "cowards,  not  fit  to  be  spoken 
to  !  "  to  die  fighting  in  a  master's  cause,  which 
should  be  their  noblest  ambition  as  retainers ; 
and  another  ordered  his  own  son  Chikara,  aged  six- 
teen, '*to  engage  those  men,  and  if  they  are  too 
strong  for  you  to  die."  Finally  all  the  retainers 
of  the  Lord  Kotsuke  no  Suke  were  killed,  but  the 
lord  himself  was  not  to  be  found.  After  a  long 
search  he  was  discovered  hiding*  in  a  back  yard. 
Kuranosike  then,  going  down  on  his  knees, 
begged  the  old  man  very  politely  to  disembowel 
himself  that  he  might  receive  his  head  and  lay  it 
as  an  offering  on  the  grave  of  Asano  Takumi  no 
Kami,  but  Kotsuke  did  not  respond  to  the  polite 
request,  whereupon  Kuranosike,  seeing  that  it 
was  "vain  to  urge  him  to  die  the  death  of  a 
nobleman,"  forced  him  down,  and  cut  off  his  head 
with  the  same  dirk  with  which  Asana  Takumi  no 
Kami  had  killed  himself! 

The  Ronins,  who  do  not  appear  to  have 
suffered  in  the  attack,  proceeded  from  this  deed 
of  blood  to  their  lord's  grave,  and  having  washed 


COMPLEX  JAPANESE   CHARACTER  135 

the  head  in  a  well  near  by,  offered  it  before  his 
tomb,  requesting  priests  to  read  prayers  and  burn 
incense,  and  to  give  them  sepulture  should  they 
in  turn  have  to  perform  hara-kiri. 

The  priest  benevolently  assured  them  that 
**  marvelling  at  their  faithful  courage  he  would 
fulfil  their  wishes."  The  people,  seeing  their 
clothes  bespattered  with  blood,  praised  them. 
The  Shogun's  retainers  entertained  them  at 
breakfast,  and  they  after  that  awaited  patiently 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  After  a  while 
it  came,  and  the  sentence  is  worth  recording. 
*' As  you  violently  broke  into  the  house  of  Kira 
Kotsuke  no  Suke  by  night  and  murdered  him, 
the  sentence  of  the  Court  is  that  for  this  audacious 
conduct  you  perform  hara-kiri,"  and  so  they  did. 

This  tale  of  burglary  and  murder  is  what  Lord 
Redesdale  calls  *'a  terrible  picture  of  fierce 
heroism,  which  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire," 
and  I  suppose  it  is  so  in  Japan  ;  indeed,  I  know 
it  is  ;  but  does  it  deserve  so  much  admiration  ? 
It  rather  deserves  attention,  because  the  deed 
itself,  together  with  the  reason  for  its  committal 
and  the  circumstances  which  attended  it,  are 
significative  of  national  traits  of  character  upon 
which  one  fastens  the  more  readily,  as  one  is 
the  more  anxious  to  understand  the  complex 
character  of  the  Japanese  of  to-day. 

Thus  the  devotion  of  these  Ronins  to  their 
master  the  Lord  Asano  is  the  prototype  of  that 
remarkable  Japanese   devotion    to   the    Mikado, 


136  TOKYO 

which  now  characterizes  the  whole  nation,  and 
is  based  on  that  respect  of  person  and  veneration 
of  authority  which  lies  at  the  root  of  Japanese 
existence. 

The  perseverance  with  which  they  carried  out 
their  revenge,  the  self-sacrifices  which  they  en- 
dured to  baffle  their  enemy,  the  care  they  took 
in  preparing  plans,  mastering  details,  and  leaving 
nothing  to  chance  are  exactly  the  same  qualities 
which  recently  enabled  47,000,000  Japanese  to 
bide  the  time  of  revenge  for  being  obliged  to 
surrender  Port  Arthur  ;  to  risk  national  bank- 
ruptcy in  a  war  with  Russia,  and  to  leave  no 
details  uncared  for  in  the  preparations  for  that 
war.  Veneration,  purpose,  perseverance,  abnega- 
tion evidently  constitute  the  basis  of  Japanese 
character ;  for  veneration  implies  humility  and 
does  not  exclude  conceit ;  purpose  includes  firm- 
ness and  does  not  exclude  kindness  ;  persever- 
ance means  success  and  does  not  indicate  pride  ; 
and  abnegation  spells  strength  both  moral  and 
physical.  The  Ronins  of  to-day  are  but  the 
democratized  Ronins  of  two  centuries  ago. 

Tokyo,  21  March. 

We  certainly  have  done  and  seen  a  great  deal, 
and  we  have  probably  heard  more.  We  are 
grateful  for  much  kindness  shown  us,  sensible 
of  excellent  repasts  both  Japanese  and  European 
enjoyed    in    the    company    of    very    interesting 


JAPANESE    LANGUAGE  137 

people,  and  are  ready  to  swear  that  Baron 
d'A  .  .  .'s  "Bouillabaisse"  cannot  be  excelled, even 
at  Marseilles.  We  have  conscientiously  visited 
the  Shiba  temples  and  the  Ueno  Park.  We  have 
tarried  in  Japanese  gardens,  and  we  have  had 
the  honour,  thanks  to  Viscount  Hayashi's  kind 
letters  of  introduction,  of  making  acquaintance 
with  distinguished  Japanese  personages,  whom 
it  will  always  be  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure  to 
remember  ;  but  most  of  our  enjoyment,  a  deal  of 
our  pleasure,  even  much  of  our  interest  in  the 
beautiful  works  of  art  we  have  seen,  has  been 
dimmed  by  our  inability  to  converse  in  Japanese 
with  the  courteous  gentlemen  we  met. 

I  am  told  that  the  English  language,  which  for 
years  has  been  the  medium  through  which  the 
higher  branches  of  knowledge  have  been  taught 
to  the  Japanese  student,  is  "a  weight  hung 
i^ound  that  student's  neck,"  and  that  "the  simpler 
and  more  idiomatic  is  the  English,  the  more  does 
it  tax  his  powers  of  comprehension."  Let  us 
share  the  sorrow;  for  Japanese  produces  the 
same  impression  upon  us ;  but  is  there  not  a 
way  out  of  it?  Could  not,  for  instance,  some 
device  be  discovered  by  which  Japanese  written 
characters  might  receive  a  definite  signification 
instead  of  describing  a  series  of  accessories, 
pointing  to  the  main  object,  which  has  then  to 
be  guessed?  We  all  know  that  an  "honour- 
able "  cow  gives  milk  ;  that  a  hen  lays  eggs  ;  that 
a  pig  is  responsible  for  ham  ;  but  we   have  no 


138  TOKYO 

time  when  we  require  milk  to  describe  the  merits 
of  an  Alderney  or  Jersey  cow  ;  when  we  ask 
for  eggs  to  point  to  a  Cochin  China  fowl  ;  or 
when  we  fancy  ham  to  delineate  the  surroundings 
of  a  pig-sty.  This  may  be,  of  course,  ex- 
aggeration, but  it  truly  points  to  the  incon- 
veniences of  an  ideographic  script  as  compared 
with  an  alphabet.  I  do  hope  in  process  of  time 
the  Japanese  will  unselfishly  simplify  their  lan- 
guage so  as  to  enable  those  who  wish  to  know 
them  better  to  learn  it.  It  is  undeniable  that  we 
cannot  truly  know  people  unless  we  also  know 
their  language.  Some  one  told  me  with  pride 
that  it  took  not  less  than  ten  years  to  learn 
Japanese  sufficiently  for  the  ordinary  purpose  of 
conversation.  I  can  understand  the  pride  of  my 
informant,  for  it  is  not  every  one  who  is  favoured 
with  ten  years  of  life  in  the  pursuit  of  half  an 
attainment,  but  as  language  means  capital  and 
every  new  language  is  a  fresh  mine  for  acquiring 
wealth,  I  think  in  these  days  of  the  "open  door" 
the  Japanese  might  simplify  their  alphabet  and 
unify  their  pronunciation.  They  are  certainly 
doing  their  best  to  learn  foreign  languages  and 
should  give  us  a  chance  of  learning  theirs. 

We  visited  several  educational  establishments 
and  were  greatly  impressed,  not  so  much  by 
the  teaching,  which,  of  course,  we  could  not 
follow,  as  by  the  applicaton  of  the  students,  who 
no  more  cared  for  our  presence  than  had  we 
been  so  many  intrusive  flies,  probably  less,  and 


EDUCATION  139 

never  lifted  their  eyes  from  the  work  on  which 
they  were  engaged.  They  seemed  fairly  en- 
grossed in  the  business  of  imbibing  knowledge, 
and  brought  to  the  task  so  much  earnestness  that 
it  was  positively  impressive.  I  could  not  but 
recollect  some  of  our  own  grammar  schools, 
where  the  presence  of  a  stranger  would  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  whole  class  to  forget  in  a  minute 
what  the  lecture  they  were  attending  was  about, 
and  where,  despite  efforts  of  the  most  competent 
teachers,  perhaps  half  a  dozen  pupils  or  even  less 
would  alone  give  their  attention  to  the  lesson  in 
hand.  The  contrast  is  very  striking,  and  I  sup- 
pose is  due  to  the  fact  that  cricket  and  football 
have  not  yet  asserted  their  all-absorbing  interest 
in  the  minds  of  young  Japan  to  the  detriment  of 
learning.  It  is  certain  that  the  passion  for  these 
manly  games  is  over-stepping  reason  in  England, 
where  instruction  is  as  good,  as  solid,  as  excel- 
lent, and  more  costly  than  in  any  other  country 
not  excepting  Germany,  but  is  not  rewarded  by 
adequate  results  because  of  want  of  solid  appli- 
cation on  the  part  of  the  scholars. 

As  a  proof  of  the  educational  zest,  one  might 
almost  call  it  fever,  which  rages  in  Japan  since 
1868,  when  all  the  old  systems  crumbled  away  like 
worn-out  walls  and  were  replaced  by  European 
methods,  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  accord- 
ing to  statistics  the  Japanese  Government  sup- 
ports more  than  27,000  primary  schools,  with  a 
staff  of   over   109,000   teachers,    and    that   these 


I40  KYOTO 

schools  are  attended  by  more  than  5,250,000  of 
scholars  ;  that  there  are  258  middle  schools  with 
4681  teachers  and  95,000  scholars  besides  a  large 
number  of  kindergartens. 

In  the  higher-grade  educational  establishments 
there  are  three  universities,  three  higher  normal 
schools  (two  for  men,  one  for  women),  fifty-seven 
normal  schools,  schools  for  commerce,  foreign 
languages,  a  technical  school,  a  school  for  nobles, 
various  military  and  naval  academies,  a  school  of 
navigation,  one  for  fine  arts,  one  for  music,  one 
for  the  blind  and  dumb,  one  agricultural  college, 
and  eight  other  higher  schools. 

Well  may  Mr.  B.  Hall  Chamberlain  ask  :  ''  In 
effect  what  is  the  situation  ?  All  the  nations  of 
the  West  have,  broadly  speaking,  a  common  past, 
a  common  fund  of  ideas,  from  which  everything 
that  they  have  and  everything  that  they  are 
springs  naturally  as  part  of  a  correlated  whole 
— one  Roman  Empire  in  the  background,  one 
Christian  religion  at  the  centre,  one  gradual 
emancipation,  first  from  feudalism  and  next  from 
absolutism,  worked  out  or  now  in  process  of  being 
worked  out  together,  one  art,  one  music,  one 
kind  of  idiom,  even  though  the  words  expressing 
it  vary  from  land  to  land.  Japan  stands  beyond 
this  pale,  because  her  past  has  been  lived  through 
under  conditions  altogether  different.  China  is 
her  Greece  and  Rome.  Her  language  is  not 
Aryan,  as  even  Russia's  is.  Allusions  familiar 
from  Qne  end  of  Christendom  to  the  other  require 


"MAGNIFICENT"   LIMITED  141 

a  whole  chapter  of  commentary  to  make  them  at 
all  intelligible  to  a  Japanese  student,  who  often 
has  not,  even  then,  any  words  corresponding  to 
those  which  it  is  sought  to  '  translate.'  "  ^ 

I  pin  my  faith  on  the  5,250,000  of  students  in 
Japan  to  find  somebody  among  their  number 
who  will  improve  their  language  and  add  to  it 
the  words  they  lack,  and  simplify  those  which 
they  already  possess.  I  have  not  read  as  yet  of 
the  existence  of  any  grammarian  in  Japan;  when 
he  does  appear,  he  may  or  may  not  be  welcome. 

NiKKO,  23  March. 

It  appears  that  in  Japanese  phraseology  the 
word  '*  magnificent, "  as  the  expression  of  the 
highest  admiration,  must  not  be  applied  in  Japan 
to  the  splendid  temples  at  Kyoto,  at  Nara,  at 
Myoshima,  at  Ise,  or  at  Tokio.  The  temples  of 
Nikko  alone  monopolize  this  adjective.  I  am 
not  disposed  to  quarrel  with  this  contention,  but 
I  would  like  to  know  wherein  lies  the  superiority 
of  Nikko  which  gives  rise  to  the  popular  opinion. 
Is  it  the  architectural  beauty  of  the  temples  or 
their  rich  carvings,  their  wonderful  fusamas,  their 
profusion  of  gold  lacquer  ?  or  is  it  the  exquisite 
natural  site  selected  for  the  tombs  of  the  great 
Tokugawa  Princes,  the  celebrated  leyasu  and  his 
grandson  lemitsu?  or  is  it  the  unique  avenue  of 
cryptomeria  which  gives  to  these  temples  so 
weird,   so  solemn,   so  dignified   an   appearance  ? 

^  "Things  Japanese,"  by  B.  H.  Chamberlain,  p.  134. 


142  NIKKO 

Perhaps  it  is  all  this  together  ;  but,  if  it  were 
only  the  latter  I  would  subscribe  to  the  popular 
sentiment,  for  anything  more  impressive  than 
these  trees  I  have  not  seen,  and  yet  how  shorn  of 
their  grandeur  these  avenues  of  cedars  must  be 
now,  as  compared  with  years  since  when  I  am 
assured  they  covered  a  length  of  forty  miles  ! 
Trees  in  Japan  do  not  appear  to  be  very  diversi- 
fied, but  the  timber  is  excellent.  They  consist 
principally  of  maple,  mulberry,  camphor,  ilex, 
camellia,  pine,  and  cedar.  The  fruit  trees  are 
numerous,  if  the  fruit  itself  is  not  very  good,  and 
they  boast  the  peculiarity  of  being  always  in 
blossom,  or  at  all  events  of  appearing  to  be  so. 
The  plum  tree  at  any  rate  keeps  the  record  for 
blossoming  ;  it  begins  to  blossom  when  the  snow 
is  on  the  ground,  and  I  have  not  met  any  one 
who  could  tell  me  when  it  stopped  its  dazzling 
career.  Of  course  it  must  stop  occasionally  to 
yield  fruit,  but  it  is  quite  clear  that  its  principal 
purpose  is  decorative.  There  was  one  in  blossom 
close  to  the  Kanaya  Hotel,  shedding  its  silver 
riches  into  the  Daiya  River  at  the  back  and 
brightening  up  the  whole  sombre  landscape  with 
magnificent  effect.  I  was  sorry  that  the  Mihashi 
or  sacred  red  lacquer  bridge  had  been  carried 
away,  as  the  red  admixture  of  colour  in  the  exist- 
ing landscape  would  have  enhanced  the  beauty  of 
the  scene. 

I  do  not  trust  myself  much  in  a  record  of  im- 
pressions of  temples  seen  by  the  score  and  ever 


KAGURA   DANCE  143 

more  or  less  in  a  hurry,  which  is  what  occurs  to 
most  travellers.  It  is  decidedly  unfair  to  the 
artists  who  have  adorned  these  museums  of  art 
with  creations  of  their  genius  which  one  has 
come  all  this  way  to  admire,  to  give  to  their 
works  but  a  passing  notice,  and  it  is  nothing 
short  of  impertinence  and  ignorance  to  attempt 
criticism  at  all.  I  am  moved  to  this  acknowledg- 
ment by  the  genuine  admiration  with  which  I 
contemplated  the  marvels  in  wood  and  in  gold, 
or  black  or  red  lacquer,  which  were  shown  to  us 
as  the  masterpieces  of  Japanese  art  in  the  early 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  But  side  by 
side  with  this  wonderment  I  experienced  a  dis- 
agreeable sensation  on  beholding  a  horse  con- 
fined to  a  stable  for  some  infantine  religious 
craze — (the  guide-book  says,  '*It  is  kept  for  the 
use  of  the  God  ") — a  poor  damsel  on  a  stage  who 
slowly  rotated  round  her  own  axis  in  obedience 
to  a  call  for  a  sacred  (kagura)  dance  by  the 
process  of  **  a  penny  in  the  slot, "  or  its  equivalent, 
a  copper  on  the  floor — and  a  gong  for  pilgrims  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  deity  to  their  prayers. 

The  latter  reminds  one  of  the  Quaker  who  did 
not  pray  ** for  riches  but  for  mere  competency," 
and  fearing  that  the  Almighty  might  not  rightly 
understand  the  exact  meaning  of  the  word  com- 
petency respectfully  added  **that  it  signified 
^4000  a  year  paid  quarterly." 

These  sacred  horses,  damsels,  trees,  and  gongs, 
mirrors,  spears,  and  swords  may  be  attractive  to 


144  NIKKO 

poets  and  dreamers  ;  they  rather  damp  the  en- 
thusiasm of  prosaic  observers  who  have  com- 
posed themselves  to  the  appreciation  of  the 
practical  doings  of  a  gifted  humanity. 

Thus  there  are  in  the  shrine  of  leyasu  two 
elephants  and  a  sleeping  cat  by  Hidari  Jingoro, 
which  are  beautifully  sculptured  ;  but  if  admira- 
tion be  expressed,  the  legend  is  told  how  he, 
Jingoro,  once  sculptured  a  horse  that  took  his 
status  so  seriously  to  heart  that  he  occasionally 
left  his  pedestal  for  the  purpose  of  grazing  in  the 
fields  near  by  ;  or  how  Kanaoka,  the  painter  of 
animals,  drew  horses  that  were  so  life-like  that  a 
rope  had  to  be  attached  to  the  picture  at  night  to 
prevent  the  horses  from  rushing  out  into  the 
gardens  and  damaging  the  shrubs  ;  and  rats  that 
left  their  canvas  on  the  appearance  of  a  cat. 

Of  course  we  have  heard  of  similar  tales  before  : 
how  Raphael  selected  as  being  his  own  original 
painting  of  Leo  X  the  portrait  of  that  Pope 
which  Giulio  Romano  had  copied  ;  how  Rubens 
was  disturbed  by  thoughts  of  a  greater  genius 
than  his  own  on  seeing  a  bee  painted  upon  the 
body  of  one  of  the  damned  in  the  great  picture 
of  the  last  judgment  at  Antwerp,  and  looking  so 
natural  that  with  his  pocket-handkerchief  he  tried 
to  wipe  it  off ;  but  Western  imagination  has  not 
gone  the  length  of  making  horses  graze  or  mice 
disappear  at  the  sight  of  a  cat  when  they  had 
been  fashioned  in  wood  or  colour. 

Yet  unless  Buddhist  temples  are  visited  with 


'«DER   ERZIEHER"  145 

due  regfard  to  the  impressiveness  of  tradition  and 
the  charm  of  legendary  lore  they  cannot  be  fully 
appreciated. 

Nikko  embodies  everything-  that  appeals  to 
the  Japanese  mind — situation,  romance,  legend, 
tradition,  and  beauty  in  art.  Whatever  is  found 
at  Nikko,  is  there  because  it  has  merit ;  and 
whatever  had  merit  found  its  way  there.  The 
Torii  with  the  simple  crests  of  the  Tokugawa 
are  imposing  ;  the  Pagoda  is  perfect ;  the  steps 
that  lead  to  the  temple  are  grand  ;  the  interior  is 
gorgeous  ;  everything  is  regal.  I  wish  I  could 
separate  it  from  its  obsolete  accessories,  its  horse 
and  its  vestal,  who  need  not  be  a  virgin — at  all 
events  the  cryptomerias  are  sublime. 

Close  to  Nikko,  and  on  the  road  to  Chuzengi, 
there  is  a  waterfall  called  Kegon-no-taki,  the 
height  of  which  is  about  250  feet,  which,  I 
understand,  has  a  particular  attraction  for  people 
bitten  with  suicidal  mania,  and  therefore  for 
followers  of  Nietzsche  and  Schopenhauer.  In 
1903  many  Japanese  youths,  disciples  of  these 
German  thinkers,  committed  suicide  in  proof  of 
the  lunacy  which  is  bred  by  much  reading  of  their 
philosophy.  Mr.  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain  calls 
the  act  a  "craze";  and,  as  this  implies  insta- 
bility, it  is  consoling,  since  crazes  have  a  knack 
of  passing  away  ;  but  in  their  thirst  for  know- 
ledge and  their  search  for  educationalists,  I 
earnestly  hope  that  young  Japan  will  not  put  its 
trust  in  Schopenhauer,  "der  Erzieher, "  who  drove 

L 


146  NIKKO 

Nietzsche  into  a  mad-house.  They  had  better 
stick  to  Buddhism,  for  Schopenhauer's  concep- 
tions are  inferior  to  any  teaching-  of  Gautama, 
and  do  not  incUide  his  puzzling  Nirvana,  while 
the  dictum  that  "alles  Leben  ist  Leiden"  is  not 
only  destructive  of  all  will  or  wish  to  make  life 
otherwise,  but  is  mischievously  subversive  of  all 
human  efforts  to  ameliorate  human  conditions, 
and  hence  to  help  men  to  rise 

From  their  dead  selves 
To  higher  things, 

as  the  Japanese  are  so  splendidly  trying  to  do. 

The  mausolea  of  the  founders  of  the  Tokugawa 
dynasty  of  Shoguns  naturally  suggest  a  wish  to 
know  why  they  have  been  reputed  to  be  worthy 
of  such  expenditure  of  talent  on  their  tombs,  and 
history  does  not  enlighten  one  very  much.  leyasu 
was  stronger  than  all  the  other  turbulent  barons 
of  his  day  ;  no  doubt  a  better  general  and  a  wiser 
administrator,  but  apparently  a  less  scrupulous 
subject  of  the  Mikado  than  his  compeers.  He 
substituted  himself  for  the  son  of  Hideyoshi,  the 
conqueror  of  Korea,  usurped  all  his  lands,  dis- 
tributed them  among  his  own  kinsmen  and  people, 
and  compelled  the  Mikado  to  recognize  him  as 
his  Shogun.  There  is  not  much  greatness  in  all 
this  :  it  is  a  common  story  ;  nor  can  he  be  blamed, 
for  others  have  acted  similarly,  but  all  the  same 
his  celebrity  rests  on  pillage.  lemitsu,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  but  a  negative  claim  on  history, 
for  he   it  was   who  not  only  declined  to  permit 


OLDEN   VIEW   OF    EUROPEANS  147 

foreigners  to  set  foot  in  Japan,  but  condemned 
any  Japanese  to  death  who  should  have  any 
relations  with  a  foreigner.  He  closed  Japan  to 
the  world,  as  one  closes  a  box,  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  and  so  hid  the  key  that  up 
to  Commodore  Perry's  refusal  to  be  denied 
admission  no  Japanese  even  knew  what  Western 
people  were  like,  and  feared  them  with  a  super- 
stitious fear,  ''as  animals  gifted  with  super- 
natural powers  who  had  assumed  human  form." 
"Although  recognized  as  intelligent  and  formid- 
able creatures.  Occidentals  were  not  generally 
regarded  as  quite  human  ;  they  were  thought  of 
as  more  closely  allied  to  animals  than  to  man- 
kind. They  had  hairy  bodies  of  queer  shape  ; 
their  teeth  were  different  from  those  of  men  ; 
their  internal  organs  were  peculiar  ;  their  moral 
ideas  those  of  goblins," 

It  is  nothing  short  of  wonderful  how  in  half  a 
century  the  Japanese  have  emerged  from  their 
ignorance  of  the  West  into  the  most  dazzling 
light  without  being  blinded,  and  have  all  the 
time  preserved  their  moral  characteristics  while 
acquiring  our  scientific  knowledge.  Change, 
when  it  came  upon  them,  came  like  an  earth- 
quake without  warning,  and  they  had  to  suit  all 
their  administrative  machinery  to  the  change. 
The  Shoguns  dwindled  into  courtiers,  the  Daimios 
into  prefects  of  provinces,  the  Samurais  into 
ordinary  individuals.  All  classes  were  merged 
into   one  people,   guardians  of  the  State  and   of 


148  NIKKO 

the  throne,  whose  first  duty  was  to  save  the 
independence  of  the  nation  by  adequate  know^ 
ledge  of  the  use  of  foreign  weapons,  and  to  turn, 
as  it  were,  into  one  great  body  of  learners  at  the 
schools  of  European  guns,  rifles,  mortars,  shells, 
and  explosive  mines. 

There  was  sound  logic  in  this  behaviour,  but 
what  is  truly  remarkable  is  that  the  whole  nation 
instinctively  understood  that  when  they  had 
learned  Western  military  matters  they  need  not 
care  for  the  rest  since  with  that  knowledge  they 
would  secure  leisure  to  learn  anything  else  worth 
learning;  that  in  a  word  they  realized  that  "the 
necessities  of  Japan  obliged  her  to  master  foreign 
science  and  to  adopt  much  from  the  material 
civilization  of  the  West,  without  compelling  her 
to  cast  bodily  away  her  ideas  of  right  and  wrong, 
of  duty  and  of  honour." 

Toryoko,  a  Japanese  poet,  wrote  : — 

Melted  and   vanished  the   ice  :    the  waves  comb 
the  locks  of  old  mosses. 

Nowhere  perhaps  in  Japan  can  one  so  truly 
realize  the  depth  of  meaning  of  this  line.  Here 
amid  the  dark  giant  cryptomerias  at  the  tombs 
of  leyasu  and  lemitsu,  guarded  by  as  horrible 
demons  as  artists  of  old  Japan  could  make  the 
animals  that  stood  sentinels  at  the  portals  of 
noted  temples,  we  feel  that  the  ice  of  old  Japanese 
feudalism  and  exclusivism  has  indeed  **  melted 
and  vanished,"  but  that  the  tide  of  a  new  era, 
the  tide  which  is  but  the  strong  beating  pulse  of 


TORYOKO   THE    POET  149 

a  great  self-sacrificingf  nation,  is   ''combing  tlie 
locks  of  old  mosses  "  ;  is  directing  the  strength 
of  the  waves  that  shall  never  submerge  the  old 
mosses  of  chivalry,  of  honour,  and  of  courage. 
Nikko  is  indeed  worth  a  visit. 


Kobe 

Inland  Sea 
Shimonoseki 
Sea  of  Japan 
Dalny 


CHAPTER   VII 


Japanese  coloured  prints — hara-kiri. 
Japanese  love  oj  children. 
Peace  oJ  Europe  changed. 
Naval  battle. 
Present  state. 


Kobe,  Thursday,  29  March. 

WE  arrived  here  two  days  ago  for  the  pur- 
pose of  embarking  on  a  Japanese  transport 
on  our  way  to  Dalny. 

Mr.  Bonar,  our  Consul,  and  his  amiable  wife 
are  rivals  in  their  knowledge  of  Japanese  coloured 
prints.  They  possess  a  collection  which  must 
be  as  valuable  as  it  is  interesting ;  but,  like  all 
things  Japanese,  coloured  engravings  require 
special  study  to  elucidate  their  actual  merits.  In 
a  clever,  though  (to  be  hypercritical)  a  perhaps 
rather  too  learned,  treatise  on  the  school  of 
Ukiyo-Ye,  Miss  Dora  Amsden  rightly  declares 
"that  for  those  who  are  not  naturally  gifted,  it 
is  necessary  to  serve  a  novitiate  in  order  to 
appreciate  a  wholly  recalcitrant  element  like 
Japanese  art,  which  at  once  demands  attention 
and  defies  judgment  upon  accepted  theories."  A 
sight  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bonar's  collection  invites 

150 


MANET  151 

the  "novitiate"  and  confirms  the  absence  of  the 
more  ordinary  conventional  theories  as  to  draw- 
ing and  perspective.  These  works  Miss  Amsden 
again  rightly  proclaims  to  be  the  **  spiritual 
rendering  of  the  realism  and  imaginings  of  a 
lively  impressionable  race  in  the  full  tide  of  a 
passionate  craving  for  art."  This  is  a  felicitous 
description  of  a  recognized  fact,  but  the  principle 
which  guided  the  artists  of  this  school,  namely, 
to  do  what  pleased  them,  whether  true  to  the 
canons  of  art — that  is  to  say,  correct  drawing, 
apt  colouring,  and  good  taste — or  not,  was 
adopted  some  forty  years  ago  by  the  early 
French  impressionists  with  sad  results.  Matahei, 
Maronobu,  Hokusai,  Hiroshige — whose  works 
are  so  much  in  request — were  the  precursors  of 
**  Manet,"  who  in  the  sixties  of  the  nineteenth 
century  could  never  get  one  of  his  impressionist 
pictures  admitted  at  the  Paris  Salon. 

News  having  reached  us  at  noon  that  we  were 
expected  on  board  the  Japanese  transport,  the 
**Tomba  Maru, "  at  four  o'clock,  and  that  the 
Earl  of  Leitrim,  who  is  to  accompany  us  on  our 
Manchurian  expedition,  had  arrived  from  Kyoto, 
we  started  in  good  time  for  Wada  Point,  some 
three  miles  away,  in  what  we  thought  a  goodly 
procession  of  three  jinrickishas  with  runners 
fore  and  aft,  and  our  luggage  in  similar  vehicles, 
preceded  by  our  Japanese  interpreter,  who,  for  a 
sea  journey,  had  donned  the  most  perfect  riding 
garment  I  ever  beheld.     Coat,  vest,  and  knicker- 


152  KOBE 

bockers  were  bespotted  with  leather,  and  his 
high  boots  were  highly  polished.  He  had  even 
provided  himself  with  an  English  dictionary  of 
riding  terms  ;  for,  on  settling  his  accounts  for  our 
stay  in  Kobe,  I  found  he  had  charged  three  yens 
for  ''fodder,"  which,  on  explanation,  turned  out 
to  be  food  for  himself. 

We  proceeded  through  the  town  of  Kobe,  and 
its  more  ancient  portion  called  Hiogo,  and  passed 
its  two  principal  sights  :  the  Dai  Butsu,  or  great 
bronze  Buddha,  forty-five  feet  high  and  eighty- 
five  feet  broad,  a  very  inferior  work  of  art,  not  to 
be  compared  with  the  delightful  Dai  Butsu  at 
Kamakura,  though  little  less  ugly  than  the  huge 
Dai  Butsu  at  Nara,  and  the  temple  called  Seiju- 
kuji,  which  has  no  artistic  merit  at  all,  but  was 
particularly  interesting  to  us  in  our  present 
circumstances,  for  it  was  there  that,  in  1868, 
*'seppuku"  alias  *' hara-kiri"  was  performed  by 
**Taki  Zenzaburo,"  an  officer  of  the  Prince  of 
Bizen,  who  gave  the  order  to  fire  upon  the 
foreign  settlement  at  Hiogo,  for  which  crime  his 
execution  had  been  demanded  by  the  foreign 
representatives  at  the  Court  of  the  Mikado. 

Lord  Redesdale,  who,  as  Mr.  Mitford,  was  one 
of  the  seven  foreign  witnesses  present  on  the 
occasion,  has  given  a  stirring  account  of  the 
behaviour  of  this  member  of  the  clan  of  Bizen 
during  the  ceremony,  which  took  place  at  10.30 
at  night  within  the  temple,  by  order  of  the 
Mikado  himself,  and  to  the  accompaniment  of 
much  popular  excitement  outside. 


"SEPPUKU"   ALIAS   "HARA-KIRI"  153 

**  In  front  of  the  altar,  where  the  floor,  covered 
with  beautiful  white  mats,  is  raised  from  the 
ground,  was  laid  a  rug  of  scarlet  felt.  Seven 
Japanese  took  their  places  on  the  left  of  the 
raised  floor,  seven  foreigners  on  the  right ;  no 
other  person  was  present.  After  an  interval  of  a 
few  minutes  of  anxious  suspense,  Taki  Zenza- 
buro,  a  stalwart  man,  thirty-two  years  of  age, 
with  a  noble  air,  walked  into  the  hall  attired  in 
his  dress  of  ceremony  with  the  peculiar  hempen- 
cloth  wings  worn  on  great  occasions."  He  was 
accompanied  by  his  "kaishaku,  or  pupil,  who 
acted  as  a  sort  of  second  in  a  duel  "  (or  best  man 
at  a  wedding,  or  principal  mourner  at  a  funeral, 
for  *'kaishaku"  is  used  in  the  better  sense),  and 
three  officers  wearing  the  ceremonial  surcoat. 
"With  the  kaishaku  on  his  left,  Taki  Zenzaburo 
advanced  slowly  towards  the  Japanese  witnesses, 
and  the  two  bowed  before  them  ;  then,  drawing 
near  to  the  foreigners,  they  saluted  in  the  same 
way,  and  with  even  more  deference.  Then  slowly, 
and  with  great  dignity,  the  condemned  man 
mounted  on  the  raised  floor,  prostrated  himself 
twice  before  the  high  altar,  and  seated  himself 
Japanese  fashion,  with  his  knees  and  toes  touch- 
ing the  ground,  his  body  resting  on  his  heels,  in 
which  position,  which  is  one  of  respect,  he 
remained  until  his  death."  One  of  the  officers 
presented  him  with  the  "wakizashi,"  or  short 
sword.  "This  he  received  reverently,  raising  it 
to  his  head  with  both  hands,  and  placed  it  in  front 


154  KOBE 

of  himself."  Then  in  a  manner  scarcely  betray- 
ing emotion,  he  confessed  to  having  "unwarrant- 
ably (he  was  probably  sacrificing  himself  for  his 
Feudal  Lord  the  Prince  of  Bizen)  given  an  order 
to  fire  on  the  foreigners  at  Kobe,  as  well  as  when 
they  tried  to  escape,  adding,  For  this  crime  I 
disembowel  myself,  and  I  beg  you  who  are 
present  to  do  me  the  honour  of  witnessing  the 
act."  He  then  proceeded  to  make  good  his 
words,  '*  never  uttering  a  sound,  even  when  he 
drew  out  the  dirk."  An  expression  of  pain, 
however,  crossing  his  face,  "the  kaishaku  who, 
still  crouching  by  his  side,  had  been  keenly 
watching  his  every  movement,  sprang  to  his  feet, 
poised  his  sword  for  a  second  in  the  air  ;  there 
was  a  flash,  a  heavy,  ugly  thud,  a  crashing  fall. 
With  one  blow  the  head  had  been  severed  from 
the  body." 

Forty  years  after  this  tragedy,  foreigners  were 
passing,  as  guests  of  the  Japanese,  the  very  spot 
whereon  a  Japanese  had  killed  himself  by  order 
for  having  fanatically  fired  at  foreigners  the  sup- 
posed enemies  of  his  country. 

At  Wada  Point  a  steam-launch  was  awaiting 
us,  and  our  passes  having  been  read  and  found 
correct  by  half  a  dozen  intelligent  looking 
soldiers,  we  started  for  the  Tamba  Maru,  where 
Colonel  Kumagai,  chief  of  the  military  transport 
department  at  Hiogo,  offered  us  champagne  and 
wished  us  a  pleasant  journey.  The  captain,  the 
chief  engineer,   and  the    chief  officer  with    our- 


A  JAPANESE   TRANSPORT  155 

selves  composed  the  European  mess  on  board, 
while  always  half  an  hour  before  our  own  meal  a 
dozen  Japanese  civil  officers  appointed  to  Man- 
churia had,  with  their  families,  their  own  repast 
served  in  Japanese  style.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  kindness  of  our  reception  or  the  forethought 
which  was  to  produce  so  much  comfort  on  our 
journey. 

We  did  not  start  that  evening  as  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  inland  sea  is  not  an  easy  one  in  the 
dark,  and  a  transport  in  peace-time  with  no 
troops  on  board  need  not  be,  and  is  not,  moved 
by  sentimental  consideration  for  a  few  passengers 
in  a  hurry.  I  ''turned  in  "  early  wondering  why 
we  have  adopted  the  word  hara-kiri  as  denoting 
the  ''happy  despatch"  when  the  Japanese  seldom 
if  ever  use  the  term.  They  call  it  "seppuku" 
as  more  polite  ;  and  so  would  we  if  our  prudish 
teachers  realized  that  hara-kiri  conveys  the  mean- 
ing of  stomach,  which  our  code  of  propriety  has 
tabooed  and  a  charming  actress  has  sung  under 
the  new  appellation  of  Little  Mary. 

At  Sea,  30  March. 

We  made  a  start  at  about  four  this  morning, 
but  fog  and  rain  delayed  our  progress  till  six, 
when  the  weather  showing  signs  of  improvement, 
we  improved  our  pace.  In  fact,  the  weather, 
which  plays  so  great  a  part  in  the  delight  of 
travelling,   bettered   itself  all  day  and  made  our 


156  AT    SEA 

journey  one  of  unalloyed  pleasure,  while  enabling 
us  to  subscribe  to  the  praise  lavished  on  the 
inland  sea,  an  erratic  expanse  of  water,  which 
for  seven  hundred  miles  divides  the  two  main  por- 
tions of  Japan  and  constitutes  a  channel,  forty 
miles  broad  in  some  places,  and  in  others  only  a  few 
miles.  It  actually  narrows  to  a  few  yards,  when- 
ever an  agglomeration  of  rocks,  or  shoals,  or 
islets,  like  an  outbreak  of  fever,  opposes  the  pro- 
gress or  impedes  the  simultaneous  passage  of  two 
ships. 

The  **Nadas"  or  open  spaces  alone  keep  up 
the  illusion  that  one  is  at  sea  ;  but  they  are  soon 
crossed,  and  one's  attention  is  most  of  the  time 
riveted  on  islands  of  every  fantastical  shape 
imaginable,  bare  and  treeless,  but  not  wanting 
colour ;  or  on  shores  which,  from  the  deck, 
appear  to  be  a  succession  of  ant-hills  with  busy 
crowds  of  workers.  Our  navigating  officers  are 
in  constant  dread  of  sinking  some  sampan,  for 
myriads  of  them  ply  their  useful  trade  among  the 
thousand  isles,  and  hence  we  are  treated  to  a 
continuous  blowing  of  discordant  but  warning 
sirens.  The  order  has  gone  forth  that  life, 
which  can  be  so  freely  given  for  the  country, 
must  not  be  sacrificed  to  the  caprices  of  captains 
of  steamers,  and  these  are  now  particularly 
enjoined  to  protect  the  sampans.  As  some  one 
said,  heaving  a  sigh:  *' It  is  not  as  formerly!" 
which  left  us  under  the  impression  that  in  the 
good  old  days  sampans  went  down  more  easily 


THE    "TAMBA    MARU  "  157 

than  now.      Even  here  there  is  progress  of  a  sort 
in  this  land  of  progress. 

The  ''Tamba  Maru  "  is  a  fine  broad-beamed 
6000-ton  ship,  which  before  the  war  plied  its  trade 
between  London  and  Yokohama,  and  has  through- 
out the  war  continued  to  be  commanded  by  the 
same  English  captain,  Captain  Butler,  and  is 
officered  by  a  Scottish  chief  engineer,  a  German 
chief  officer,  and  some  Japanese  junior  officers. 
The  ship  was  on  her  fiftieth  trip  to  Port  Arthur, 
and  had  carried  thither  and  thence  over  eighty 
thousand  soldiers  and  sailors  whether  for  the 
front  or  returning  from  it,  as  also  prisoners  of 
war,  without  mishap  of  any  sort.  The  Russian 
officers  who  were  prisoners  of  war  carried,  we 
were  told,  *' piles  of  roubles  about  their  person, 
gambled  all  day  and  all  night,  and  drank  the 
ship  dry,  neither  feeling  ashamed  nor  humiliated, 
but  as  lively  as  crickets."  This  account  discloses 
more  cynicism  than  one  would  have  expected. 
A  report  that  officers  before  the  surrender  of 
Port  Arthur  "were  allowed  to  loot  the  mint," 
that  is,  '*to  take  as  much  as  they  could  carry," 
because  *'the  money  was  their  own,"  and  that 
''thirty  roubles  was  enough  to  leave  behind  for 
the  Japanese,"  may  be  true,  but  it  is  not  very 
credible  ;  yet  has  not  Boileau  written,  "  Le  vrai 
peut  quelquefois  n'etre  pas  vraisemblable  "  ? 

An  officer  appointed  to  the  Customs  at  Dalny, 
who  is  on  board  with  his  wife,  his  sister-in-law, 
and  a  maid,    is  the  possessor  of  a  child  of  the 


158  AT    SEA 

age  of  three ;  a  little  urchin,  with  a  solemn 
countenance,  who  constitutes  the  joy  and  sole 
preoccupation  of  the  quartette,  and  exacts  from 
his  parents  and  attendants,  in  a  truly  despotic 
manner,  the  closest  and  most  constant  attention. 
I  was  noticing  it  to  the  chief  engineer,  who  told 
me  that,  during  the  war,  when  the  troops  were 
on  board  and  all  was  bustle  and  activity,  a  small 
urchin  of  two  years  of  age,  brought  on  board  to 
say  good-bye  to  his  warrior  parent,  got  interested 
in  the  manoeuvres  about  the  gangway  and  took 
up  a  position  right  in  the  middle.  Anywhere 
else,  argued  my  informant,  ''sailors  would  have 
lifted  the  child  and  carried  him  to  his  parents  so 
as  to  be  out  of  harm's  way,  but  not  here.  He 
was  allowed  to  remain  where  he  was,  though 
terribly  hampering  the  work  to  be  done,  and  the 
sailors,  to  whom  he  was  proving  a  nuisance,  only 
smiled  at  the  infant  and  admired  his  pluck."  It 
is  rather  touching  and  indeed  beautiful  because  it 
sounds  and  is  so  true.  Such  love  as  the  Japanese 
exhibit  for  children  cannot  but  be  real.  It  strikes 
one  everywhere  in  all  places  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. If,  as  somebody  writes,  "the  most 
striking  quality  of  the  Japanese  is  precocity  "  and, 
as  Sir  Rutherford  Alcock  said,  "Japan  is  a  very 
paradise  of  babies,"  it  is  singularly  touching  to 
see  how  the  precocious  child  turns  his  parents 
also  into  babies,  so  that  they  may  be  mutual 
partakers  of  joy  in  this  earthly  paradise  of 
parental  and  filial  love. 


BABIES    AND    BABY    MOTHERS  159 

To  see  a  little  urchin  asleep  on  the  back  of  his 
babyish  mother,  or  tickling  her  ear  with  a  feather 
so  as  to  bring  a  smile  into  her  face  as  she  labours 
home  with  her  sweet  burden,  is  one  of  the 
prettiest  sights  imaginable  in  this  fascinating 
land ;  and  is,  by  the  way,  the  only  poetical  trait — 
at  least  the  only  observable  poetical  character- 
istic— in  a  country  truly  practical  in  deed  and  in 
spirit.  Writers  like  Loti,  Mrs.  Hugh  Fraser, 
and  Hearn  have  rather  imparted  their  own 
poetical  genius  to  the  accounts  they  have  given 
to  a  delighted  world  about  Japan,  than  adhered 
to  sober  fact,  for  it  soon  becomes  patent,  on  a 
visit  to  Japan,  that  the  Japanese  are  lovers  of 
the  practical  and  the  real  rather  than  of  poetry. 
But  if  parental  love  and  filial  love  constitute 
poetical  love,  then,  indeed,  the  Japanese  are  both 
poetical  and  practical. 

31  March. 

We  anchored  last  night,  and  did  not  attempt 
the  narrows  which  constitute  the  Strait  of  Shimo- 
noseki  for  reasons  best  known  to  the  authorities  ; 
and  it  would  be  indiscreet  to  ask  questions.  It 
was  no  doubt  for  the  best,  as  a  rising  barometer 
this  morning  indicated  the  glorious  weather  which 
we  were  to  enjoy  all  day,  and  the  end  of  a  storm 
that  had  marred  some  of  the  beauty  of  scenery 
both  yesterday  and  the  day  before.  At  6  a.m. 
we  steamed  between  Shimonoseki  and  Moji,  and 
at  eight  entered  the  now  historical  Sea  of  Japan. 


i6o  AT   SEA 

Moji  IS  comparatively  modern,  and  owes  its  grow- 
ing importance,  I  understand,  to  the  discovery  of 
coal  in  its  vicinity  ;  but  though  it  forms  but  one 
port  with  Shimonoseki  opposite,  it  has  not  the 
interest  the  latter  possesses  as  the  memorial  of 
Japan's  first  revelation  in  fields  of  conquest,  for  it 
was  there  that  peace  was  signed  after  the  suc- 
cessful war  with  China  in  1895.  It  was  also  the 
witness  of  Europe's  mean  conduct  in  September, 
1864.  Europe  then  considered  it  good  policy  not 
only  to  bombard  a  defenceless  town  because  one 
or  two  of  their  warships  had  been  fired  at  by 
some  ignorant  fanatical  patriots,  but  to  exact  in 
cash  the  price  of  their  expended  ammunition — an 
action  so  mean  that  the  United  States  have  since 
repaid  their  share  of  the  plunder.  It  is  clear 
there  was  not  much  belief  in  those  days  that 
Japan  would  rise  to  the  proud  position  she  now 
holds  in  the  world,  and  it  seems  certain  that  the 
indignity  which  the  Japanese  considered  had  been 
unjustly  imposed  upon  them  first  roused  the  nation 
to  that  unity  of  interests  and  purposes  which, 
four  years  later,  so  signally  marked  the  fall  of  the 
Shogunate  and  the  rise  of  Nippon  under  a  single 
sovereign. 

It  would  be  particularly  interesting  were  any 
one  some  day  to  undertake  a  search  into  the 
causes  which  throughout  the  world  have  suddenly 
knit  a  divided  people  into  a  compact  whole  ex- 
acting respect  ;  but  it  might  probably  lead  to 
such    humiliating   confessions    of   human    weak- 


RESULTS   OF   BLUSTER  i6i 

nesses  on  the  part  of  amiably  styled  distinguished 
statesmen  that  perhaps  it  is  best  not  to  destroy 
fictitious  reputations;  and  besides,  **De  mortuis," 
etc.,  is  a  charitable  axiom.  At  any  rate,  I  can- 
not help  thinking  that  Japan  ought  to  be  grateful 
for  European  blunders.  The  rapacity  of  the  tall 
men  of  the  West  against  a  little  weak  Eastern 
country  of  thirty  million  small  subjects  turned 
their  weakness  into  strength  ;  and  (so  far  as  they 
are  concerned)  but  for  1864  there  probably  would 
not  have  been  a  1905. 

The  blustering  voice  of  Europe  in  dictating 
withdrawal  from  conquered  Port  Arthur  engen- 
dered that  untiring  patience  and  determined  re- 
solve which  have  now  for  ever  ensured  to  the 
Japanese  the  consideration  due  to  those  who  are 
beyond  the  reign  of  terrorism,  and  have  saved 
their  country  from — shall  we  say  Nirvana? 

It  is  singular  that  the  signing  of  the  Treaty 
of  Shimonoseki  in  1895,  which  marked  the 
end  of  the  war  between  China  and  Japan  and 
the  dawn  of  Japanese  martial  successes,  should 
have  been  attended  by  just  such  an  act  of  fanati- 
cism as  marked  the  humiliating  events  of  thirty 
years  before.  Li  Hung  Chang's  life  was  attempted 
by  a  madman,  but  Europe  this  time  did  not 
coalesce  to  exact  money  compensation  for  navi- 
gating its  ships  into  Japanese  waters  as  a  demon- 
stration of  hostility  to  the  country  that  permitted 
the  laws  of  international  courtesy,  hospitality,  and 
protection  to  be  set  aside  by  fanatics.    There  was 

M 


i62  SEA   OF  JAPAN 

no  need  :  Japan  had  been  victorious,  and  her 
Government  was  no  longer  held  responsible  for 
the  acts  of  its  irresponsible  subjects. 

Sea  of  Japan,  31  March. 

Our  course  is  very  little  south  of  due  west  until 
we  get  nearer  to  the  island  of  Tsutchima,  distant 
about  sixty  miles,  when  we  will  bear  more  south 
before  rounding  the  southernmost  portion  of 
Korea.  Of  all  the  three  courses  open  to  the 
Russian  Admiral  to  get  to  Vladivostock — any  one 
of  which  he  was  not  hindered  in  taking  from 
want  of  coal,  indeed,  he  had  so  much  on  board 
that  it  actually  hampered  the  fighting  efficiency 
of  some  of  his  ships — Admiral  Rozhdestvensky 
selected  the  channel  between  Japan  and  the 
island  of  Tsutchima.  We  were  able,  therefore, 
by  the  help  of  Admiral  Togo's  published  official 
account  of  his  encounter  with  the  Russian  Baltic 
Fleet,  to  follow  the  movements  of  both  fleets  in 
the  region  we  were  ourselves  crossing,  and  under- 
stand something  of  the  tactics  pursued.  There 
was  one  difference,  however.  The  battle  of  the 
Sea  of  Japan,  fought  on  27  May,  1905,  was  fought 
in  foggy  weather  and  a  rough  sea,  whereas  we 
had  a  calm  ocean  and  bright  weather,  which 
allowed  quite   distant  obj'ects  to  be   visible. 

Thus  almost  at  the  start  we  could  picture  the 
Japanese  Admiral  and  his  fleet  far  away  in  the 
north-west,  above  the  island  of  Okinoshima  or 


APPROACH    OF   THE    BALTIC    FLEET         163 

northern  portion  of  Tsutchima,  and  at  the  entrance 
to  the  Straits  of  Korea,  eager  to  pounce  on  his 
enemy  as  he  came  up  from  the  south  making  for 
Vladivostock,  and  to  our  left  we  could  perceive 
in  the  south  the  island  of  Iki  and  beyond  it 
Ukujima,  at  both  of  which  guard-ships  had  been 
placed  as  advanced  sentries,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  early  notice  of  the  enemy's  advance.  From 
the  **Shimano  Maru, "  an  auxiliary  cruiser  fitted 
with  Marconi  wireless  telegraphy,  and  cruising 
to  the  north  of  Ukujima,  came  at  5  a.m.  on 
27  May  the  first  news  of  the  Russian  approach  : 
''Enemy's  fleet  sighted  in  No.  203  section:^ 
seems  to  be  steering  for  the  east  channel."  On 
receipt  of  this  welcome  intelligence  "the  whole 
crews  of  our  fleet  leaped  to  their  posts,"  wrote 
the  Japanese  Admiral.  At  7  a.m.  the  ''  Izumi, " 
on  the  left  wing  of  the  inner  line,  reported  from 
Iki  that  ''the  enemy  had  passed  Ukujima,  still 
steeringnorth-east."  Then  Vice-Admiral  Kataoka, 
commanding  the  cruiser  squadron,  came  down  to 
reconnoitre  the  strength  of  the  Russian  fleet 
and  keep  in  touch  with  it.  This  he  did  so  suc- 
cessfully from  II  a.m.  to  i  p.m.  that,  "though  a 
heavy  fog  covered  the  sea,  making  it  impossible 
to  observe  anything  at  a  distance  of  over  five 
miles,  all  the  conditions  of  the  enemy  were  as 
clear  to  Admiral  Togo  and  his  staff*,  who  were 

1  It  would  seem  that  Togo  had  divided  the  whole  area  between  South 
Korea  and  Japan  up  to  Vladivostock  into  so  many  sections  or  squares  ; 
the  mere  mention  of  any  given  square  showing  him  on  the  maps  the 
exact  position  of  the  enemy's  ships. 


1 64  SEA   OF   JAPAN 

thirty  or  forty  miles  distant,  as  though  they  had 
been  under  our  very  eyes." 

*'  Long  therefore  before  we  came  in  sight  of 
the  enemy,"  wrote  Admiral  Togo  in  his  official 
account,  which  I  have  annexed  to  these  notes, ^ 
*'we  knew  that  his  fighting  force  comprised  the 
second  and  third  Baltic  squadrons,  that  he  had 
seven  special  service  ships  with  him,  that  he  was 
marshalled  in  two  columns  line  ahead,  that  his 
strongest  vessels  were  at  the  head  of  the  right 
column,  that  his  special  craft  followed  in  the 
rear,  that  his  speed  was  about  twelve  knots,  and 
that  he  was  still  advancing  to  the  north-east. 

*'  I  was  enabled  therefore  to  adopt  the  strategy 
of  directing  my  main  strength  towards  Okino- 
shima,  with  the  object  of  attacking  the  head  of 
his  left  column." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  not  before  he  was  in 
possession  of  all  the  above  information,  given  by 
his  own  trusted  officers  and  derived  from  ships 
in  touch  with  the  Russian  fleet,  did  Togo  settle 
on  the  particular  plan  (out  of  several  ready  for 
any  possible  combinations)  which  he  was  going 
to  adopt.  At  a  quarter  to  two,  just  before  steam- 
ing to  the  attack,  and  when  Admiral  Kataoka 
with  his  cruisers  had  rejoined  the  main  force,  he 
ran  up  the  signal  for  all  the  ships  in  sight. 
''The  fate  of  the  Empire  depends  on  this  event. 
Let  every  man  do  his  utmost." 

The  signal  was  received  in  comparative  silence 

^  See  Appendix  I. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  SEA  OF  JAPAN     165 

but  with  that  grim  resolve  which  stirs  the  soul  of 
each  individual  to  live  up  to  the  noble  command 
or  perish  in  the  attempt. 

Though  not  sailors  ourselves  we  could  trace 
the  manoeuvres  from  Togo's  despatch,  so  clear 
and  concise,  so  simple  was  its  tenor.  We  could 
picture  for  ourselves  the  attack  on  the  leading 
and  strongest  vessels ;  the  sinking  one  after 
another  of  the  ^'Oslyabya,"  which  headed  the 
left  column,  followed  by  the  *'Kniaz  Suvaroff" 
and  the  ''Emperor  Alexander  III,"  and  realize 
how  justified  Togo  was  in  saying  that  ''already 
at  2.45  the  result  of  the  battle  had  been  decided." 
We  could  imagine  the  main  Japanese  squadrons 
pressing  on  the  Russian  lines,  broken  by  those 
early  disasters,  and  forcing  them  south,  while 
using  their  better  steam  power  so  as  not  to  lose 
their  grip;  "firing  on  the  enemy  in  a  leisurely 
manner  whenever  his  ships  could  be  discerned 
through  the  smoke  and  fog." 

Just  a  few  miles  north  of  our  position  at  noon 
was  that  section  which  Togo  reached  when 
"suddenly  the  Russians  headed  north,  seeming 
about  to  pass  northward  by  the  rear  of  the 
Japanese  line,"  and  where  "at  once  his  squadron 
went  about  to  port  with  the  *  Nisshin  '  leading, 
all  steering  to  the  north-west,  the  armoured 
cruiser  which  had  been  following  in  the  main 
squadron's  wake  changing  front,  and  forcing  the 
enemy  southward  once  more,  firing  on  him 
heavily";  the  result  being  that  at  4.40  p.m.  "the 


i66  SEA   OF   JAPAN 

enemy  apparently  abandoned  the  attempt  to  seek 
an  avenue  of  escape  northward  "  and  the  pursuit 
began.  With  what  frightful  results  it  was  at- 
tended we  know  from  the  fact  that  out  of  eight 
battleships,  six  were  sunk,  viz.  the  ''Oslyabya," 
*M<niaz  Suvaroff,"  *' Alexander  III,"  ''Boro- 
dino," "Sissoi  Veliki,"  and  the  ''Navarin,"  while 
two — the  ''Orel"  and  "Nicolas  I" — surrendered; 
that  out  of  three  armoured  cruisers  all  these  were 
sunk,  viz.  the  "Admiral  Machinoff,"  "  Dimitri 
Donskoi,"  and  "Vladimir  Monomach  "  ;  that  of 
three  coast  defence  ships  one  was  sunk,  "Admiral 
Ouchakoff, "  and  two  surrendered,  "Admiral 
Seniavine  "  and  "Admiral  Apraxine  " ;  that  out  of 
thirteen  destroyers  five  were  sunk  and  one  taken ; 
finally,  that  of  the  six  protected  cruisers,  the 
"  Svietlana "  was  sunk,  the  "  Izumrud "  was 
wrecked  150  miles  beyond  Vladivostock,  the 
"  Oleg "  escaped,  and  the  "Almaz"  alone  with 
the  destroyers  "  Grozni  "  and  "  Jemtchug  " 
reached  Vladivostock.  What  a  terrible  lesson 
in  naval  warfare  !  According  to  Togo's  official 
account, 

20  ships  were  sunk, 
6  were  captured, 
2  were  shattered  while  escaping, 
6  were  disarmed  and  interned  after  fight 
to  neutral  ports, 

and  this  was  the  answer  to  his  request  that 
"every  man  should  do  his  utmost."  Glorious 
as  was  this  battle,  and  severe  as  was  the  punish- 


A   COMMEMORATIVE    LIGHTHOUSE  167 

ment,  it  has  in  no  way  tarnished  the  reputation 
for  bravery  of  the  Russian  sailor.  Admiral 
Rozhdestvensky  had  brought  up  a  heterogeneous 
and  undisciplined  lot  to  within  600  miles  of  his 
goal  across  20,000  miles  or  more  of  sea,  over- 
coming enormous  difficulties,  and  was  himself 
only  accidentally  captured  within  200  miles  of 
Vladivostock.  The  number  of  sunken  ships 
testifies  to  the  refusal  of  many  of  his  commanders 
to  strike  their  flag,  and  the  gallantry  of  the 
*'Izumrud"  was  conspicuous.  All  honour  to  the 
fallen!  Togo  said  in  his  despatch,  *'I  consider 
that  the  enemy's  officers  and  men  fought  with 
the  utmost  energy  and  intrepidity  on  behalf  of 
their  country."  The  words  "on  behalf"  seem 
to  me  the  key-note  of  the  difference  between  the 
two  combatants.  The  Japanese  were  fighting 
for  their  country ;  the  Russians  on  behalf  of 
theirs.  Japanese  sailors  were  told  that  the  fate 
of  the  Empire  depended  on  victory;  the  Russians 
that  Russia's  honour  was  at  stake.  Both  ends 
were  met. 

Towards  evening  we  steamed  past  Tsutchima, 
at  the  north  of  which,  in  Okinoshima,  a  light- 
house is  being  erected  in  commemoration  of  the 
battle  of  the  ''Sea  of  Japan."  It  will  be  a 
beacon  of  glory  and  an  unpretending  light  ;  a 
monument  to  prowess,  and  a  vigil  lamp  burning 
through  the  night  in  honour  of  those  who  died 
in  the  waters  whereon  its  rays  are  shed. 


i68  DALNY 

Dalny,  2  April. 

Favoured  by  magnificent  weather  and  by  the 
absence  on  our  course  of  disagreeable  submarine 
explosives,  we  spent  the  day  pleasantly  in  the 
Yellow  Sea  yesterday,  and  though  there  was  no 
fog  or  mist,  as  is  usually  expected  in  this  locality 
at  this  time  of  year,  we  communed  with  the  waves 
only,  for  we  could  see  nothing  either  of  Korea  or 
of  the  Shantung  Peninsula. 

This  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  we  reached  the 
snugly-ensconced  town  of  Dalny,  and  half  an 
hour  later  bade  adieu  to  our  amiable  captain  and 
his  officers,  and  landed  on  the  quay  along  which 
the  **Tamba  Maru  "  was  moored.  We  were 
officially  greeted  by  the  Admiral  of  the  Port, 
Rear-Admiral  Okubo,  who  is  also  Superintendent 
and  Governor  of  the  Quantung  Peninsula. 

Dalny,  which  I  take  to  be  Russian  for  *' far- 
away port,"  was  leased  to  Russia  in  1898,  the 
same  year  that  Tsingtao  became  German,  Wei- 
hai-wei  British,  and  Kwanchonwan  French.  It 
was  then  a  miserable  village.  It  is  now  a  town 
of  considerable  importance,  which  owes  its  outer 
and  inner  harbours  and  most  of  its  public  buildings 
to  Sakharoff,  a  Russian  engineer,  who,  under  the 
orders  of  M.  de  Witte,  spent  300  million  roubles 
(30  million  sterling)  in  making  it  an  agreeable 
resort  for  non-military  people,  but  according  to 
all  accounts  the  non-military  population  did  not 
thrive  until  the  war  preparations  brought  over  two 


DISAPPOINTMENTS  169 

regiments  that  could  not  be  accommodated  in 
Port  Arthur,  and  in  their  train  all  that  appertains 
to  a  modern  city  of  pleasure. 

There  is  nothing*  temporary  about  its  appear- 
ance, and  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  Dalny, 
though  only  leased  from  China,  was  not  intended 
to  become  the  important  commercial  emporium 
of  Russia  on  what  the  Russian  policy  had  ever 
aimed  at,  a  free  sea-board.  Even  the  great  Trans- 
Siberian  Railway  debouched  on  its  quays,  branch- 
ing off  at  Nankwanling  from  the  main  line  to  its 
terminus  at  Port  Arthur. 

People  lived  in  perfect  security  at  Dalny. 
**  Port  Arthur  was  so  strong!  and  the  Japanese 
so  small !  "  One  can  almost  share  the  bitter  dis- 
appointment experienced  by  its  inhabitants  when, 
having  listened  with  hope  and  confidence  all  day 
on  25  May  to  the  booming  of  artillery  at  Nanshan, 
and  having  looked  to  victory  as  a  certainty,  they 
received  at  4  p.m.  an  order  from  General  Stoessel 
to  evacuate  their  secure  Dalny  and  fly  to  Port 
Arthur  for  protection  against  the  small  Japanese  ; 
and  one  can  enter  into  the  bitterness  of  the  reflec- 
tions which  must  have  filled  the  minds  of  the 
gay  magnates  of  Dalny,  as,  in  every  conceivable 
vehicle,  or  on  foot  they  formed  a  melancholy  pro- 
cession on  its  way  to  Port  Arthur  at  4  a.m.  on 
the  26th.     But  *'a  la  guerre  comme  a  la  guerre." 

Admiral  Okubo  most  obligingly  showed  us 
over  the  docks  and  the  arsenal  and  the  electric- 
power  houses.     He  much  regretted  the  absence 


I70  DALNY 

of  a  dynamo  which  was  supposed  to  have  been 
dragged  to  Port  Arthur  for  the  purpose  of  elec- 
trifying the  barbed  entanglements  round  the 
defences,  but  he  showed  us  with  pride  a  number 
of  small  craft,  in  an  outer  basin,  "  which  had 
all,"  he  said,  *'been  raised  from  the  bottom  of 
the  sea"  to  be  useful  to  their  new  country.  In 
the  evening  we  dined  at  what  he  termed  his  very 
little  house  ;  and,  though  we  were  eighteen  all 
told,  not  a  single  interpreter  was  present  and  the 
greatest  cordiality  reigned  between  us.  The 
Admiral  even  delivered  an  excellent  little  speech 
in  English,  the  tone  of  which  was  touching  in 
the  extreme,  reminding  his  guests  of  the  friend- 
ship of  Great  Britain  for  Japan,  which  had  been 
so  great  a  factor  in  localizing  the  war,  and  of  the 
gratitude  of  Japan  for  an  ally  they  liked  and 
respected:  for,  said  he,  '*is  not  the  Japanese 
navy  a  pupil  of  the  English?"  The  dinner  was 
quite  European  and  the  wines  were  of  Western 
known  brands.  After  dinner  some  geishas  per- 
formed dances,  and  among  them  the  **Kappure," 
which  had  the  effect  of  dispelling  all  gravity  and 
illumining  all  faces  with  rays  of  very  genuine 
delight.  It  was  a  thoroughly  simple,  joyful, 
merry,  and  characteristic  night,  enabling  us  to 
realize  that  the  Japanese,  when  they  can  throw 
off  their  mantle  of  dignity,  which  they  wear 
sometimes  too  long,  are  as  natural  and  as  pleasant 
as  their  Western  brothers  under  similar  condi- 
tions ;    and    it   made    us   feel    besides    that    the 


HAPPY   ALLIANCE  171 

expressions  of  gratitude  towards  England  and 
America,  which  subjects  of  those  countries  hear 
much  of  in  Japan,  are  genuine  and  unalloyed. 
This  is  particularly  gratifying,  as  it  shows  the 
immediate  result  of  that  policy  which  allied  us 
to  Nippon. 

A  shower  of  '^banzais"  poured  over  us  on 
our  reluctant  return  to  the  Toyo  Hotel,  an  ex- 
cellent inn,  at  which  Admiral  Okubo  had  reserved 
rooms  for  our  use.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
Dalny  will  not  lose  for  having  changed  its  nation- 
ality.    All  is  bustle  and  activity  still. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Entrance  to  Port  Arthur. 

Port  Arthur  atid  20 j  Metre  Hill. 

Siege  of  Port  Arthur. 

Port  Arthur,  3  April. 

THE  morning  was  exquisite,  and  the  prospect 
of  a  sea  journey  from  Dalny  to  Port  Arthur 
quite  exhilarating.  At  an  early  hour  we  pro- 
ceeded to  the  dockyard,  where  we  met  Admiral 
Okubo  by  appointment,  and  embarked  on  a 
small  steamer  known  only  as  "No.  5,"  but  one 
of  the  Admiral's  favourites,  as  it  was  a  Russian 
craft  reclaimed  from  the  grave  which  had  been 
assigned  to  it  in  the  waters  of  the  harbour.  We 
started  at  nine,  and  were  proceeding  gaily  along 
the  coast  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula,  when  a 
strong  north-westerly  breeze  put  a  stop  to  our 
hopes  of  reaching  Port  Arthur  as  early  as  we 
expected  ;  but  if  our  speed  was  not  as  great  as 
that  desired  by  our  amiable  commander,  at  least 
it  gave  us  leisure  to  note  the  various  places 
where,  during  the  advance  of  the  Japanese  and 
the  resulting  retrogression  of  the  Russian  troops 

to   Port   Arthur,    efforts  were   made   by   Russian 

172 


"SHIPS    MADE    TO    GO   TO    SEA"  173 

warships  to  protect  their  own  men  and  arrest  the 
progress  of  their  enemy. 

Thus  at  Hoshiptsiao  on  14  June,  at  Siaopingtao 
on  26  June,  at  Huang-ni-chuang-ho  on  5  July, 
and  at  Yenghang  on  20  August,  Russian  vessels 
of  all  sorts  assisted  the  Russian  right  by  a  brisk 
bombardment  of  the  Japanese  left ;  to  little 
purpose  it  is  true,  but  in  proof  at  least  that  the 
smaller  craft  did  not  all  of  them  keep  inside  the 
harbour  as  well  as  the  heavier  men-of-war.  It 
is  inexplicable  that  more  than  one  gunboat  did 
not  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Russian  army  at 
Nanshan,  when  so  many  could  be  active  after- 
wards. 

The  question  why  the  Russians  bottled  up 
their  squadrons  in  an  inadequate  harbour  under 
the  protection  of  land  defences  is  variously 
answered  by  various  people. 

Admiral  Togo,  on  one  occasion,  at  Tokyo 
informed  me  with  a  smile,  in  reply  to  a  question 
of  mine,  that,  while  before  Port  Arthur,  he  per- 
sonally ''  had  seen  very  few  Russian  ships.  They 
seemed  to  prefer  the  harbour  to  the  sea,"  he 
said,  **  which  is  odd,  as  one  would  suppose  that 
ships  are  made  to  go  to  sea."  Sarcastic  though 
the  statement  sounds,  and  might  have  been  in 
any  other  person's  mouth,  it  was  not  in  the  least 
intended  as  such  from  this  great  naval  officer, 
as  he  was  rather  thinking  of  tactics,  strategy, 
and  possibilities  than  of  criticism  at  all,  and  he 
is  so  modest  and  so  simple-minded  that  any  sort 


174  PORT  ARTHUR 

of  criticism  of  the  action  of  a  foe  would  be  the 
last  thing  he  would  indulge  in  in  ordinary  con- 
versation. Writers  like  Mr.  Putnam  Weale  have 
been  very  severe  in  their  condemnation  of  the 
Russian  navy,  perhaps  too  severe  ;  and,  despite 
his  statement  of  the  state  of  affairs  at  Port 
Arthur,  where  he  was  present  on  the  night  of 
the  first  attempt  to  block  the  entrance  and 
torpedo  the  Russian  fleet,  I  am  rather  disposed 
to  think  that  tidal  considerations  had  more  to  do 
with  the  stationary  character  of  that  fleet  than 
any  other.  Of  course,  such  a  consideration  raises 
further  questions,  with  which,  as  a  civilian,  I  am 
not  concerned,  especially  at  the  present  moment; 
but  when,  as  I  was  informed,  the  depth  of  a 
channel  is  eighteen  feet  at  low  water,  it  stands 
to  reason  that  it  is  impossible  for  ships  drawing 
twenty-five  and  twenty-six  feet  to  go  in  and 
out  when  they  please,  and  the  activity  of  the 
"Novik,"  which  only  drew  sixteen  feet,  and  of 
smaller  craft  such  as  I  have  referred  to,  is,  at 
all  events,  a  proof  that  anchorage  when  not 
enforced  was  not  always  sought. 

As  we  got  to  the  entrance  to  the  narrow 
channel  that  leads  into  the  harbour,  we  were  able 
to  realize  many  things,  which,  at  a  distance, 
seemed  incomprehensible.  Coupled  with  the  little 
depth  of  water  in  the  channel,  a  fact  of  which 
the  Japanese  were  naturally  well  aware,  the  diffi- 
culty of  navigation  in  so  confined  a  space  con- 
stituted natural  obstacles  to  a  fleet  in  harbour. 


BLOCKING   EXPEDITIONS  175 

The  Japanese  naturally  and  deliberately  tried  to 
multiply  these  obstacles,  and  render  the  exit  as 
impossible  as  it  lay  in  their  power  to  make  it. 
In  this  they  did  not  actually  succeed,  for  the 
entrance  was  never  totally  obstructed  ;  and, 
judged  by  that  fact,  people  have  said  that  all 
the  heroism  displayed  in  the  attempts  to  lay 
mines  and  sink  ships  under  the  batteries  of 
Golden  Hill  was  wasted,  and  that  the  Japanese 
attempts  were  dismal  failures.  They  may  have 
been  so  in  one  sense,  but  in  the  more  important 
matter  of  keeping  the  Russian  fleet  occupied 
with  repairs  to  damaged  ships  from  February  to 
May,  and  their  crews  in  a  state  of  demoraliza- 
tion until  the  Japanese  troops  had  had  leisure 
to  land  in  the  rear  of  the  great  fortress,  it  must 
be  allowed  that  Togo's  tactics  were  a  decided 
success.  I  have  not  heard  Japanese  officers 
defend  as  necessary  in  a  naval  attack  upon  a 
fortress  the  proceedings  of  their  own  service  in 
the  matter  of  blocking  the  entrance  to  Port 
Arthur.  They  are  too  much  masters  of  their 
trade  not  to  take  wind  and  waves  into  account 
in  reckoning  an  anchorage  for  floating  mines, 
but  exception  still  goes  on  as  of  yore  to  prove 
the  rule,  and  a  commander's  skill  lies  in  the 
adoption  at  the  right  time  of  the  exception 
rather  than  the  rule.  These  blocking  expedi- 
tions had  so  paralysing  an  eff"ect  on  the  Russians 
that  they  wore  out  all  military  ardour  in  the 
captains  and  crews.    Makaroff's  policy,  in  taking 


176  PORT   ARTHUR 

the  fleet  out  every  day  for  a  short  cruise,  aimed  as 
much  at  restoring  some  confidence  in  the  men  as  at 
improving  their  defective  discipline  and  training. 

About  twelve  or  thirteen  miles  from  Port 
Arthur  we  steamed  over  the  waters  which  prob- 
ably witnessed  the  sinking  of  the  "  Petropavl- 
ovsk"  and  the  death  of  the  Admiral  on  12  April. 
Whether  she  was  blown  up  by  coming  into  con- 
tact with  a  mine — which  is  likely — or  by  some 
internal  explosion  which  would  not  exclude  the 
first  supposition,  and  whether  the  mine  was  one 
of  those  laid  by  the  Japanese  transport  ''  Koryo 
Maru  "  the  day  previously,  or  by  Russians  them- 
selves, it  is  difficult  to  tell.  The  fact  remains 
that  it  was  one  of  those  disasters  in  war-time 
which  do  more  to  dishearten  combatants  than 
any  actual  defeat. 

The  death  of  Vice-Admiral  Makaroff  and  that 
of  General  Kondrachenko  were  the  two  greatest 
blows  suffered  by  Russia  during  the  whole  of  her 
unfortunate  campaign  against  the  Japanese.  The 
death  of  Makaroff  dispirited  the  navy  ;  that  of 
Kondrachenko  hastened  the  surrender  of  Port 
Arthur,  the  retention  of  which,  before  the  battle 
of  Mukden,  was  so  essential  to  Kuropatkin's  plans. 

At  a  little  before  two,  we  reached  the  channel 
which  leads  into  Port  Arthur,  and  it  was  blowing 
a  gale.  Right  and  left  of  us,  in  front  and  behind, 
as  we  steamed  slowly  through  the  mass  of  wrecks, 
were  sunken  ships  ;  some  on  the  top  of  others, 
and  others  seeming  only  to  require  a  lifting  hand 


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HEROIC   DEEDS  177 

to  continue  a  useful  career.  It  was  not  possible 
to  count  them  ;  but  two  especially  pleaded  for 
notice.  To  our  left,  as  we  entered,  close  up  to 
the  base  of  Liaotishan,  lay  the  remains, 
visible  at  low  water,  of  the  *' Sevastopol." 
This  ship,  which  on  two  occasions  had  struck 
a  mine  and  been  repaired,  was  the  last 
Russian  vessel  to  leave  Port  Arthur  after  the 
taking  of  203  Metre  Hill  on  5  December,  when 
she  declined  to  remain  a  target  for  Japanese 
guns  and  sought  shelter  outside  the  harbour  in 
shallow  water.  Here  she  was  repeatedly  attacked 
by  Japanese  torpedoes  ;  and  at  last,  on  the  17th, 
her  captain  took  her  into  deep  water  and  sank 
her.  All  honour  to  Captain  von  Essen,  a  Russian 
naval  hero,  and  his  hundred  men  !  On  the  right, 
stranded  upon  the  rock  at  the  foot  of  the  Golden 
Hill,  was  the  wreck  of  the  "  Fukui  Maru, " 
whose  gallant  commander,  an  officer  of  the 
Japanese  Navy,  Commander  T.  Hirose,  led,  on 
3  May,  the  third  blocking  operation  before  Port 
Arthur,  and  perished  in  the  attempt. 

Out  of  eight  steamers  that  rushed  the  harbour 
*' despite  enemy's  searchlight,  fortress  fire,  obser- 
vation mines,  and  mechanical  mines,  five  gained 
the  harbour's  mouth  and  three  were  sunk  before 
reaching  it;  and  out  of  159  men  on  board  the 
steamers,  only  eight  officers  and  thirty-six  men  re- 
turned unhurt."^  All  the  rest,  viz.  twenty  officers 
and  ninety-five  men,  were  killed  or  missing. 

^  Official  despatch. 


N 


178  PORT  ARTHUR 

Hirose's  remains  were  found  by  the  Russians 
in  the  ship  which  he  had  beached  under  the 
batteries  ;  and  so  gallant  did  they  consider  his 
action,  that  they  sent  them  to  the  Japanese  lines 
to  be  forwarded  to  Tokyo,  where  all  honours 
could  be  paid  to  this  Japanese  hero  in  his  own 
beloved  land,  and  by  his  own  people. 

The  actual  attempts  to  block  the  entrance 
appear  to  have  been  three  in  number,  one  on 
24  February,  one  on  27  March,  and  one  on  3 
May.  It  also  appears  that  some  seventeen 
ships  averaging  two  thousand  tons  each  were 
sunk.  The  result  of  all  this  waste  of  life  and 
property  was  of  no  advantage  to  any  one  in  a 
practical  sense  as  I  have  already  remarked,  but 
its  moral  effect  was  enormous,  and  it  is  for 
commanders  to  judge  whether,  under  certain 
circumstances,  a  moral  effect  is  not  a  very 
material  one.  In  this  case  it  made  the  battle 
of  Nanshan  possible. 

As  we  entered  the  inner  basin  the  wind  was  so 
strong  that  we  could  not  go  alongside  the  wharf, 
but  had  to  be  transferred  to  a  tug  and  bid  a 
hurried  adieu  on  board  "No  5"  to  our  most 
amiable  and  charming  host.  Admiral  Okubo. 

On  landing,  we  found  Vice-Admiral  Misu,  who 
was  chief  of  the  staff  to  Admiral  Kamimura  and 
commanded  the  "  Iwate  "  on  14  August  when  the 
"  Rurik "  was  sunk  and  the  "  Rossia "  and 
**Gromoboi"  were  so  ill-treated,  and  Rear 
Admiral  Tamari  awaiting  our  arrival.      In  their 


A   TOAST  179 

company  we  proceeded  to  Government  House 
(the  same  house  Alexieff  inhabited),  where  we 
sat  down  at  once  to  an  excellent  breakfast,  at 
which  only  General  Iditi  (chief  of  the  staff  to 
General  Nogi  and  the  Third  Army  in  the  late 
war),  who  speaks  French,  and  General  Okame  who 
speaks  no  Western  language,  were  present,  besides 
our  hosts  and  ourselves.  In  the  course  of  the 
repast.  Admiral  Misu  got  up  and  begged  us  to 
join  him  in  a  toast  which  'Mie  had  much  plea- 
sure in  proposing,  and  which,  he  was  certain, 
would  be  drunk  with  as  much  enthusiasm  by  the 
allies  of  Japan  as  by  Japanese  themselves  ;  viz. 
the  health  of  the  beloved  Emperor  whose  2666th 
anniversary  as  Mikado  was  celebrated  to-day." 

It  was  simply  said  and  impressive,  for  it 
at  once  brought  back  our  comparatively  young 
country  in  presence  of  so  old  a  dynasty,  and 
made  us  feel  how  absurd  the  Japanese  must 
consider  Western  people  who  look  upon  them 
as  the  newest  additions  to  civilization.  It  was 
also  interesting  as  confirming  what  I  was 
told,  viz.  that  the  Japanese,  unlike  European 
writers,  date  the  accession  of  their  Mikado  from 
Jimmu  Tenno,  the  first  who  condescended  to 
accept  the  earth  for  his  former  residence  in 
heaven  !,  b.c.  660.  This  would  make  the  anniver- 
sary to-day  the  2666th  as  announced  by  the 
Admiral,  but  most  writers  make  Japanese  history 
begin  in  the  fifth  century  of  our  era.  Even  so,  a 
continuous  succession  of  Mikados  for  over  fifteen 


i8o  PORT   ARTHUR 

hundred  years  constitutes  them  the  oldest  dynasty 
in  the  world,  and  we  drank  freely  in  honour  of  its 
present  chief. 

Admiral  Tamari,  who,  as  Captain  Tamari,  is 
well  known  in  London,  where  he  acted  for  some 
time  as  naval  attache  to  the  Japanese  Lega- 
tion under  Viscount  Hayashi,  took  charge  of  us 
and  drove  us  to  the  quarters  which  had  been 
reserved  for  us.  They  were  those  occupied  by 
General  Barri,  Commandant  of  the  Russian  Artil- 
lery during  the  siege,  and  were  spacious  enough, 
and  very  pleasantly  situated. 

On  the  way  there,  however,  he  took  us  to  see 
the  War  Museum  which  General  Iditi  has  col- 
lected, and  advised  us  to  see  an  assemblage  of 
weapons,  tools,  wire  entanglements,  guns,  shells, 
and  grenades — everything,  in  fact,  which  human 
ingenuity  could  devise  either  to  kill  or  to  wound. 
It  was  a  fit  preparation  for  the  morrow's  work 
before  us. 

Port  Arthur,  4  April. 

At  8  a.m.  Mr.  Matamura,  the  official  inter- 
preter, who,  if  my  memory  serves  me  right,  was 
also  interpreter  to  the  foreign  correspondents 
attached  to  the  Third  Army  before  Port  Arthur 
in  the  late  war,  together  with  a  delightfully 
modest  and  intelligent  officer,  Captain  Koibe, 
who,  as  signal  officer,  survived  all  the  horrors  of 
the  attacks  on  the  forts  around  Port  Arthur, 
arrived    to    take    us    to    203    Metre    Hill  —  that 


A    DRIVE  i8i 

memorable  hill  the  capture  of  which  sealed  the  fate 
of  the  Pacific  Squadron  of  Russia,  and  led  within 
a  month  to  the  surrender  of  Port  Arthur  itself. 

We  drove  through  both  the  old  and  new  towns 
at  the  back  of  the  Paiyushan  forts,  which  im- 
mediately cover  the  old  town  near  to  which  the 
Russians  retired  on  31  December  before  the  capi- 
tulation, as  also  along  the  line  of  projected  forts 
covering  the  new  town  which  were  occupied  by 
the  Japanese  immediately  after  the  surrender — a 
distance  altogether  of  about  four  miles,  if  so  much. 

Even  for  civilians  some  knowledge  of  the  posi- 
tion of  various  forts  is  necessary  if  they  are  de- 
sirous of  understanding  their  military  guides  ; 
and  we  had,  therefore,  by  dint  of  many  books 
endeavoured  to  grasp  how  strong  was  the  place 
which  for  seven  months  baffled  the  heroism  and  at 
times  almost  damped  the  unexampled  courage  of 
the  besiegers.  We  wanted  to  enter  into  the  feel- 
ings of  pride  and  satisfaction  with  which  these 
now  historical  ruins  would  be  pointed  out  to  us 
by  actual  participants  in  the  tragedies  which 
brought  them  to  this  state.  It  was  not  an  easy 
task,  for  what  with  Chinese  names,  Russian 
appellations,  and  Japanese  pronunciations,  not 
to  speak  of  new  names  since  the  war,  it  proved  a 
very  difficult  business  at  first  to  make  out  even 
which  was  which.  The  remark,  however,  applies 
more  to  the  eastern  forts  than  to  the  western 
defences,  of  which  the  principal  one  was  the 
object  of  this  day's  visit.      As  it  is,    I  venture  to 


i82  PORT  ARTHUR 

append  a  sketch-map  which  I  drew  up  for  my 
own  personal  comprehension  of  the  siege  which 
lasted  seven  months,  and  from  which  it  will  be 
seen  that  altogether  there  appear  to  have  been 
forty-two  forts.  At  the  capitulation  fifty-nine 
forts  were  actually  surrendered,  independently  of 
redoubts,  lunettes,  and  earthworks.^ 

I  beg,  however,  to  disclaim  all  responsibility 
for  correctness  of  spelling,  as  I  rather  noted 
down  the  names  given  to  me  as  they  sounded  to 
my  imperfect  hearing  than  as  they  probably 
should  be  written.  This  disclaimer  implies  a 
lesson  of  humility  and  conceals  a  disappoint- 
ment. Rather  fancying  myself  the  possessor  of 
a  correct  ear  for  sounds,  I  must  sadly  acknow- 
ledge that  I  never  once  asked  a  Japanese  to 
repeat  a  syllable  without  finding  his  second  utter- 
ance hopelessly  different  from  his  first,  and  in 
consequence  had  to  give  up  the  effort  I  should  so 
gladly  have  undertaken  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  this  multi-sounding  language. 

All  the  forts  were  distributed  as  follows  in  a 
rough  square.  Beginning  by  Liaotishan,  on  the 
sea,  to  203  Metre  Hill,  on  the  west  side  of  Port 
Arthur  near  Pigeon  Bay,  were  S.  Tayanko  and 
N.  Tayanko,  which  played  no  part  in  the  war ; 
then  from  west  to  the  village  of  Suichen  were 
Namakayama  and  Asakayama  ;  between  the  vil- 
lage of  Suitchen  and  the  new  town  to  the  south 
were  Tousan,  Shianchisan,  and  Daianchisan. 
From  Suitchen,   near  which  many  redoubts  and 

'  Map  No.  I. 


THE    FORTS  183 

lunettes  had  been  built  up,  down  to  the  sea  in  an 
eastern  semicircle  were  Sung  chu  san,  Ehrlung 
or  Nirusan,  Wontai  or  Bodai,  North  Keikwan 
and  East  Keikwan  ;  then  from  the  sea  to  Liao- 
tishan,  viz.  from  east  to  west  along  the  coast,  were 
Roritsushi,  Sanchei,  Bakuchucho,  and  Golden 
Hill.  On  the  Tiger  Tail  Peninsula  there  were 
no  less  than  four  forts,  with  which,  however,  we 
have  no  present  concern. 

But  it  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  while  the 
east  was  defended  by  no  less  than  eight  big  forts, 
only  three  smaller  ones  existed  to  the  west,  which 
points  to  Russian  fears  of  a  Japanese  descent  on 
land  in  the  east.  It  is  also  probable  that  the 
desperate  fighting  which  took  place  at  203  Metre 
Hill  in  December  was  due  to  the  final  realiza- 
tion by  the  Japanese  in  the  first  place  that  at  all 
cost  they  must  repair  an  original  mistake  of 
tactics  in  not  pressing  their  attack  of  September 
on  this  hill,  and  by  the  Russians  that  they  had 
somewhat  overlooked  the  great  importance  of 
their  western  positions. 

If  we  consider  the  dates  on  which  these  yarious 
forts  were  taken  or  surrendered,  viz.  : — 

203  Metre  Hill,  captured    5  Dec,    1904 
Akasakayama  ,,  6      ,, 

Namakayama  ,,  20  Sept. 

Sung  chu  san  ,,  31  Dec. 

Ehrlung  ,,  29      ,, 

North  Keikwan       ,,  18  Dec. 

East  Keikwan,  blown  up,  31      ,, 
Wontai,  captured  i  Jan.,     1905 


i84  PORT   ARTHUR 

it  will  be  remarked  that  with  the  exception  of 
Namakayama,  taken  on  20  September,  no  big  fort 
was  captured  until  203  Metre  Hill  was  conquered. 
Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  proceeded  to  203  Metre 
Hill,  which  has  since  been  remeasured  and  is 
really  208  metres  or  226  yards  in  height.  The 
drive  through  the  town  was  instructive  as  to 
Russian  notions  of  a  leased  territory.  Closed 
shops  and  buildings  with  significative  indications 
told  plainly  of  permanent  Russian  settlement 
and  Russian  ambitions.  Splendid  erections  with 
painted  red  crosses  spoke  of  the  ultimate  fate  of 
palaces  intended  for  other  purposes  than  the 
nursing  of  war  victims,  while  deserted  Swiss 
chalets  and  European  seaside  casino  construc- 
tions suggested  the  what-might-have-been  in  an 
almost  pathetic  manner  ;  for  there  is  pathos  in 
loss  to  man  of  what  in  his  brief  hour  of  life  he 
imagines  constitutes  a  place  of  amusement  and 
leisure,  even  if  it  ends  in  deception. 

Personally  I  was  mostly  struck  —  probably 
because  I  know  so  little  about  Russia,  though 
I  have  been  privileged  in  the  course  of  years 
to  meet  and  appreciate  many  distinguished 
Russians — by  the  apparently  frivolous  conception 
and  hurried  realization  of  luxury  in  this  essen- 
tially war-devoted  locality,  without  regard  to 
ordinary  common  sense. 

There  were  half-built  structures  evidently  in- 
tended for  Ritz  Hotels  and  Paris  restaurants  ;  for 
Carlton  and  Savoy  assemblies  ;  for  Fifth  Avenue 


WASTE  185 

millionaire  residences;  and,  in  fact,  for  Society  on 
the  largest  scale.  All  this  under  the  protection 
of  forts  bristling  with  guns,  with  no  stronger 
attraction  than  a  long  journey  across  Europe  to 
reach  a  miserable  lake  and  gaze  on  an  Eastern 
fleet  unable  to  put  to  sea  for  want  of  water. 
Human  conceit  is  far-reaching,  no  doubt,  but  I 
never  thought  that  even  an  Alexieff  could  have 
dreamt  of  turning  Port  Arthur  into  a  seaside 
resort  for  the  world  of  fashion.  He  even  in- 
tended it  to  be  a  shipping  centre  as  well,  and 
traced  a  canal  to  the  south-west  so  as  to  have  two 
outlets  to  the  shallow  lake  !  What  he  did  best 
was  to  leave  the  place  by  the  last  train  that  got 
away  before  the  siege. 

But  how  terrible  must  have  been  the  awakening 
to  the  reality  !  and  the  realization  of  the  fact  that 
a  fortress,  like  a  town  at  the  foot  of  a  volcano, 
should  be  prepared  for  rougher  work  than  the 
beautifying  of  its  precincts  !  Bomb  -  proof 
shelters,  whether  underground  or  on  the  slopes 
of  the  numerous  hills  that  encircle  the  harbour, 
would  have  been  more  appropriate,  when  all 
undoubtedly  knew  that  a  war  with  Japan  must 
fatally  ensue  should  the  Russians  persist  in  their 
policy  of  aggrandizement,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
a  bombardment  of  this  new  Eastern  Ostend  must 
necessarily  follow. 

Though  a  bombardment  by  five  hundred  guns 
did  take  place,  it  was  not  very  destructive  to  the 
town.     There   were,   indeed,   plenty   of  signs  of 


i86  PORT   ARTHUR 

it  to  be  seen  everywhere,  but  more  in  the  old 
than  in  the  new  town.  Alexieff's  house  and 
Stoessel's  were  both  hit  but  not  damaged,  and 
this  was  no  doubt  due  to  chance  shells  rather 
than  to  deliberate  aiming.  The  Japanese  in- 
tended to  possess  themselves  of  a  town,  not  of  a 
ruin.  Their  principal  object  was  clearly  revealed 
on  our  reaching  203  Metre  Hill,  from  which  a 
perfect  view  of  Port  Arthur  is  obtained,  such  as 
no  other  hill,  not  even  Wontai,  can  give  in  its 
neighbourhood,  and  which,  once  in  the  posses- 
sion of  their  enemy,  commanded  every  remaining 
Russian  ship  in  the  harbour.  There  were,  un- 
fortunately for  Russia,  too  many  of  these  :  the 
'^Pallada,"  the  "Bazan,"  the  ^'Retvizan,"  the 
"Pobieda,"  the  '*  Peresviet,"  the  ''Sevastopol," 
all  of  which,  except  the  last,  were  sunk  by 
Japanese  naval  guns  from  203  Metre  Hill. 
Among  the  smaller  craft  sunk  in  the  same  way 
was  one  I  knew  well,  the  '*  Djighit, "  and  I  made 
great  efforts  but  in  vain  to  learn  the  fate  of  her 
cheery  commander.  Captain  Letumoflf,  and  his 
polished  ist  Lieutenant,  Prince  Wladimir  Trou- 
betskoi,  who  had  paid  me  a  visit  in  Trinidad. 

As  one  by  one  all  these  ships  went  down  ;  as 
one  after  another  these  forts  were  taken  and  blown 
up,  it  is  not  surprising  to  read  of  the  discourage- 
ment which  took  possession  of  the  gallant  de- 
fenders and  of  the  crowning  trial  they  experienced 
on  the  death  of  their  great  engineer,  General 
Kondrachenko,    killed    in    North    Keikwan,    to- 


"GREAT   SOVEREIGN,    FORGIVE!"  187 

gether  with  eight  other  officers,  on  15  December 
by  a  28-centimetre  shell  ;  nor  is  it  very  surprising 
if  such  a  series  of  misfortunes,  acting  on  an  al- 
ready dispirited  garrison,  caused  all  further  desire 
of  resisting  to  collapse.  Still,  so  far  at  least 
as  we  know,  could  the  resistance  have  been  pro- 
longed another  six  weeks  or  even  a  month  Nogi's 
army  would  not  have  been  available  at  Mukden 
at  the  end  of  the  following  February,  and  Kuro- 
patkin  would  have  been  better  served.  I  am 
not  a  military  critic  or  called  upon  to  censure  a 
gallant  general,  but  though  I  acknowledge  the 
disastrous  results  of  a  premature  surrender,  I 
sympathize  with  General  Stoessel's  heartrending 
appeal  to  his  master:  ''Great  Sovereign  !  For- 
give !  we  have  done  all  that  was  humanly  pos- 
sible. Judge  us:  but  be  merciful.  Eleven  months 
of  ceaseless  fighting  have  exhausted  our  strength. " 
It  is  almost  as  pathetic  as  the  psalmist's  appeal 
to  the  Almighty, 

Si  iniquitates  observaveris,  Domine,  quis  sustinebit? 

and  it  was  the  true  utterance  of  a  broken  man. 

Yet  eighteen  months  after  the  event  General 
Stoessel  has,  I  believe,  been  condemned  to  death 
by  a  military  court-martial  !  ^ 

It  is  so  easy  to  condemn,  but  is  condemnation 
in  this  case  justifiable  ?  A  mere  perusal  of  the 
conversation  which  took  place  on  4  January  be- 
tween the  defeated  General  and  Captain  Tsunoda 

^  Since  this  was  written  the  Emperor  has  proved  "  merciful." 


i88  PORT   ARTHUR 

(recorded  in  Mr.  Ashmead  Bartlett's  admirable 
account  of  the  siege  and  capitulation  of  Port 
Arthur)  shows  that  since  6  October  General 
Stoessel  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on 
beyond  his  fortress.  On  that  day  he  received 
his  last  message  from  Kuropatkin.  ''The  last 
time  I  heard  from  him  was  on  6  October,  when 
he  wrote  to  me  to  say,  *  My  good  comrade,  it 
is  only  necessary  to  hold  out  for  a  short  time 
longer  because  I  am  coming  with  my  entire 
army  to  relieve  you,'"  and  the  ''short  time" 
during  which  Stoessel  held  out  was  prolonged 
to  three  months.  How  many  months  did  a 
"short  time"  include  in  Kuropatkin's  view?  If 
more  than  three  months,  he  clearly  should  have 
said  so  to  his  "bon  camarade."  Common  sense 
dictates  justice  in  cases  of  this  kind,  and  a 
man  who  is  cut  off  for  three  months  from  all 
possible  communications  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  cannot  be  condemned,  having  no  means 
or  opportunity  of  enlightenment,  because  he  has 
obeyed  for  three  months  instead  of  four.  General 
Stoessel  had  done  "all  that  was  humanly  pos- 
sible," and  if  the  inventory  of  stores  and  provi- 
sions at  the  capitulation  indicated  enough  material 
means  for  prolonging  a  siege,  these  were  of  little 
value  to  men  whose  "strength  was  exhausted  by 
eleven  months  of  ceaseless  fighting."  What  is 
the  use  of  food  to  the  man  who  wants  sleep,  or 
of  arms  to  those  who  are  too  tired  to  carry  them  ? 
It  would  be  best  to  ask — What  was  the  use  of  a 


USELESS    PORT   ARTHUR  189 

fortress  at  Port  Arthur  to  Russia  ?  The  late  Lord 
Salisbury  anticipated  the  answer  as  far  back  as 
1898,  when  in  a  speech  at  the  Albert  Hall  he 
said,  ^'  I  think  Russia  has  made  a  great  mistake. 
I  do  not  think  Port  Arthur  is  of  any  use  to  her 
whatever."  Should  the  Russians  decline  to 
accept  this  rough  British  statesman's  correct 
surmise,  why  did  they  not  listen  to  another  blunt 
but  wise  counsellor,  their  own  old  General  Drago- 
miroff,  who  in  the  very  first  week  of  the  war 
advised  the  evacuation  of  Port  Arthur  both  by 
the  navy  and  the  army  ?  There  is  no  parallel 
between  General  Stoessel  and  Admiral  Byng, 
unless  it  be  intended  to  encourage  other  Alexieffs 
not  to  build  other  Port  Arthurs. 

203  Metre  Hill  in  its  present  condition  of 
a  mass  of  rubble  tells  but  little.  The  fact 
that  it  took  nine  days,  from  26  November  to 
5  December,  to  capture  this  not  very  high 
eminence ;  and  that,  according  to  our  official 
Japanese  guides,  seven  thousand  Japanese  and 
four  thousand  Russians  were  killed  before  it 
was  taken,  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  desperate 
character  of  the  fighting.  Indeed,  few  other 
spots  on  this  earth  possess  so  sanguinary  a 
record.  What  it  must  have  looked  like  when  the 
first  Japanese  flag  was  planted  on  its  summit 
defies  description.  Visiting  it  sixteen  months 
after  the  event,  we  still  stumbled  over  human 
bones  or  slipped  over  stained  rags,  and  could 
pick  up  shells,  whole  or  in  fragments,  and  iron 


igo  PORT  ARTHUR 

splinters  of  every  description.  It  was  rather 
with  a  feeHng  of  pain  than  of  interest  that  we 
viewed  these  things  ;  and  yet  it  was  not  possible 
to  deny,  when  lifting  our  eyes  from  a  soil  so 
saturated  with  human  blood  to  the  horizon,  that 
''the  promised  land"  with  all  the  ships  in  its 
harbour  was  there  beyond  this  hill  of  blood,  and 
hence  was  possibly  worth  all  the  heroic  sacrifice 
the  reaching  of  it  entailed. 

We  were  also  much  interested  in  another  thing. 
At  the  western  ridge  of  the  hill  and  on  its  slope 
Captain  Koibe  showed  us  the  spot  where,  having 
gained  a  footing,  he  remained  ensconced  for 
five  days,  signalling  all  the  time  whatever  was 
worth  communicating,  and  never  once  being  dis- 
covered by  the  Russians  ten  yards  away  from 
him. 

On  our  return  from  this  memorable  trip  we 
found  our  quarters  invaded  by  the  two  Admirals 
and  General  Iditi — it  may  be  Ijichi,  in  which 
case  I  humbly  apologize  ;  but,  from  his  Japanese 
card,  I  cannot  quite  make  out  which  is  correct — 
who  were  waiting  for  us  to  sit  down  with  them  to 
a  gorgeous  breakfast  prepared  in  our  dining- 
room. 

We  were  so  totally  unaware  of  this  fresh 
honour  that  it  is  fortunate  we  did  not  tarry  longer 
on  203  Metre  Hill,  as  we  wanted  to  do.  As  it 
was,  we  were  evidently  late,  for  General  Iditi 
greeted  me  with  the  words,  ''  Nous  vous  avons 
attendus  cinq  minutes,"  and  I  felt  as  if  Louis  XIV 


DOCKYARDS  191 

had  arisen  for  the  purpose  of  administering  to 
me  a  royal  reproach.  It  did  not  weigh  long, 
however,  over  my  spirits,  and  especially  it  did 
not  spoil  an  entertainment  for  which  we  had 
brought  all  the  necessary  hunger  and  which  we 
enjoyed  to  the  full  ;  nor  did  its  recollection 
endure  very  long  as  we  had  other  interesting 
things  to  see,  and  our  hosts  wished  us  to  see 
them. 

With  Admiral  Tamari  as  our  guide  we  first 
visited  the  dockyards.  One  ship,  which  had  been 
refloated,  was  on  a  dry  dock  being  repaired  ; 
another  deep  down  in  the  water  was  being  ex- 
amined by  divers,  and  the  third  we  visited  from 
stem  to  stern,  viz.  the  refloated  *'Pallada, "  a 
stately  vessel,  but  with  engines  so  badly  injured 
that  the  authorities  doubt  her  being  able  to  travel 
to  Japan  without  being  towed  there.  From  what 
the  Admiral  told  us  I  gathered  that  diving  opera- 
tions can  only  take  place  between  the  months  of 
April  and  November,  as  the  water  is  too  cold 
for  divers,  and  that  so  active  had  been  the  work 
of  recovering  ships  from  their  watery  graves 
that  last  season  alone  sixteen  vessels,  of  which 
seven  were  men-of-war,  had  been  added  to  the 
Japanese  Navy.  When  the  ^'Pallada"  is  re- 
paired there  may  be  one  or  two  more  ships  to 
refloat,  but  the  rest  will  probably  be  blown 
up.  I  trust  Hirose's  little  steamer  and  the 
"Sevastopol"  will  be  allowed  to  remain  as 
long  as  the  waves  in   their  anger  do  not  wash 


192  PORT   ARTHUR 

away  their  remains.  Tlie  wrecks  of  these  vessels 
are  the  finest  monuments  of  the  heroism  they 
witnessed  that  can  be  erected  to  the  memory  of 
those  who  manned  them. 

Among  the  spoils  enumerated  at  the  taking 
of  Port  Arthur  were  4  battleships,  2  cruisers, 
14  gunboats  and  destroyers,  10  steamers,  8 
launches,  and  47  miscellaneous  craft  of  all  kinds  : 
in  all  85  ships  ! 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that  is,  in 
February,  1904,  the  Russian  Pacific  Squadron 
or  naval  force  in  Eastern  waters,  so  far  as  one  is 
able  to  ascertain  from  official  data,  consisted  of: — 

7  battleships, 
4  armoured  cruisers, 
7  protected  cruisers, 
25  destroyers, 
4  armoured  gun  vessels, 
6  sloops, 
2  mining  transports, 

2  auxiliary  cruisers, 

3  steamers  of  the  Volunteer  Fleet : 

in  all  60  vessels,  besides  torpedo-boats,  of  which 
there  probably  were  also  60,  and  the  smaller 
craft.  Of  these  4  were  at  Vladivostock,  2  at 
Chemulpo,  i  at  Shanghai,  i  at  Yin  Kow  (New- 
chwang),  and  the  remainder  at  Port  Arthur. 
Out  of  all  this  the  '' Cesarevitch  "  (interned  at 
Kia-chow),  the  ''Gromoboi,"  *'Rossia, "  and 
''Bogatyr"    (badly    damaged    at    Vladivostock), 


on,         John      Murray. 


W!  it  A-1^^  -^ol^nr^ort  iniiilt't.i  x-ifeilmryL  .t  L^mduil 


>S   I" 


>  »D. 


"1^ 


\fr„ .. 


PORT  ARTHUR 


I 


1 


SUBMARINE    MINES  193 

the  "Mandjur"  and  "  Askold "  (interned  at 
Shanghai),  the  ''Diana"  at  Saigon,  and  a  few 
torpedo-boats  that  escaped,  was  all  that  could 
be  returned  to  Russia  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
war ! 

We  then  visited  the  Tiger  Tail  Promontory 
and  the  submarine  mines,  nearly  two  hundred  in 
number,  that  have  been  lifted  by  the  Japanese. 
These  deadly  engines  should  form  the  subject  of 
protest  by  all  nations  in  any  conference  on  the 
usages  of  war  which  may  take  place.  They  are 
cruel  and  cowardly,  suicidal  and  murderous,  and 
I  can  see  no  more  justification  in  their  use  in  war 
than  in  the  throwing  of  bombs  by  Anarchists,  or 
in  the  use  of  hand  grenades  by  duellists. 

When  Malartic,  the  last  French  Governor  of 
Mauritius,  was  approached  in  1800  by  a  pilot,  a 
native  of  Port  Louis,  who  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  to  invent  a  submarine  explosive  for  the 
purpose  of  blowing  up  the  British  ships  that 
were  blockading  the  port,  he  got  into  a  passion 
and  dismissed  the  sailor  with  the  scathing 
remark,  "On  n'attaque  son  ennemi  qu'en  face." 
It  is  true  he  belonged  to  the  days  of  Fontenoy 
and  Quebec. 

A  visit  to  the  hospital,  an  establishment  con- 
sisting of  three  detached  buildings,  all  facing 
east,  airy,  lofty,  and  cleanly,  brought  our  eventful 
day's  proceedings  to  a  close  ;  but  peaceful  as 
was   this  ending,    the  recollection   of  203   Metre 

Hill  was  on  me,  and  throughout  the  night  I  could, 
o 


194  PORT   ARTHUR 

like    the   herald    in   Swinburne's    ''  Erechtheus," 

"^^^  One  man's  note 

Tearing  its  way  like  a  trumpet ;  charge,  make  end,  charge, 

Halt  not,  strike,  rend  up  their  strength  by  the  roots  ; 

Strike,  break  them,  make  your  birthright's  promise  sure  ; 

Show  your  heart's  hardier  than  the  fenced  land  breeds, 

And  souls  breathed  in  you  from  no  spirit  of  earth, 

Sons  of  the  sea's  waves. 

Port  Arthur,  5  April. 

We  were  favoured  last  night  by  the  strains  of 
a  naval  band,  which  played  for  us  during  and 
after  dinner,  and  were  especially  struck  by  their 
impressive  rendering  of  the  Japanese  national 
anthem.  It  sounded  like  a  mighty  prayer  from 
a  mighty  people  to  the  god  of  battle  with  a 
finish  like  a  "grand  amen,"  and  we  asked  for 
its  repetition  as  we  were  in  a  patriotic  mood. 

To-day  we  have  visited  the  eastern  and 
southern  forts,  at  least,  some  of  the  principal 
ones.  Sung  chu  san,  Ehrlung,  East  and  North 
Keikwan,  Wontai,  and  Golden  Hill,  all  but  the 
last  a  mass  of  rubbish  and  debris,  the  work  of 
destructive  mines,  or  of  those  twenty-eight-centi- 
metre howitzers  that  Stoessel  declared  ''had 
given  him  so  much  trouble  during  the  siege  that 
after  their  arrival  his  fortifications  were  useless." 
An  excellent  military  road  connects  all  these 
separate  forts,  each  of  which  commands  a  splen- 
did panorama  across  the  plain  of  Suichen,  away 
to  the  sea  at  Pigeon  Bay  in  the  west,  and  to  the 
mountains  of  Antyuling  to  the  north-east,   and 


ENDURING    STRENGTH  195 

Takushan  to  the  south-west.  Two  things  strike 
the  mind  Hke  two  query  notes.  How  could  such 
strong  positions  ever  be  taken  ?  How  was  it  ever 
possible  for  the  Japanese  to  take  them  ?  The 
war  correspondents  of  "The  Times,"  the  "  Daily 
Mail,"  the  "Daily  Telegraph"  have  so  graphic- 
ally described  the  manner  in  which  the  capture 
did  eventually  take  place,  and  how  the  de- 
fendants only  gave  up  at  the  very  last  minute, 
that  their  account  seems  to  add  force  to  the  state- 
ment of  General  Stoessel  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred that  "human  strength  was  exhausted," 
but  human  strength  must  be  very  enduring  that 
can  have  made  the  Russians  resist  for  seven 
months  against  the  ceaseless  attacks,  night  and 
day,  of  their  opponents  ;  and  have  saved  from 
discouragement  the  Japanese,  who  were  called 
upon  so  often  to  face  certain  death  in  their 
repeatedly  unsuccessful  assaults. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  these  assaults 
cover  a  space  of  five  months,  and  that  North 
Keikwan,  the  first  fort  captured,  was  only  taken 
on  18  December,  while  Wontai  succumbed  only 
on  I  January,  1905,  that  is,  twenty-four  hours 
before  the  general  surrender,  such  facts  describe 
more  eloquently  than  any  words  can  express 
the  heroic  valour  of  besiegers  and  besieged.  It 
is  a  glorious  page  in  the  history  of  two  great 
nations,  equally  honourable  to  conquerors  and 
conquered,  but  in  the  annals  of  a  hoped-for 
progressive  civilization    I   fear  the  deeds  before 


196  PORT   ARTHUR 

these  chains  of  forts  only  point  to  the  existence 
still  of  savagery  among  men.  "  Grattez  le  Russe 
et  vous  trouverez  le  Tartare, "  is  not  confined  to 
the  outwardly  gentle  Mujik,  but  is  very  much 
the  history  of  all  nations.  The  equally  gentle 
Japanese  brought  from  his  peaceful  home  and 
peaceful  occupations  to  measure  his  strength 
with  the  giant  Cossacks  suddenly  remembered 
his  Samurai  blood  and  turned  Samurai.  We 
ourselves  have  only  to  be  ruffled  to  reveal  our 
brute  propensities.  One  reflection  comforted 
me.  When  General  Nogi,  on  14  January, 
celebrated  ''with  sake  and  many  offerings  a  fete 
in  honour  of  officers  and  men  who  had  fallen," 
having  "for  over  two  hundred  days  and  nights 
fought  and  toiled,  facing  death  by  fire,  sword, 
and  sickness,"  and  informed  these  dead  heroes 
that  ''their  noble  sacrifice  has  not  been  in  vain, 
for  the  enemy's  fleet  has  been  destroyed  and  Port 
Arthur  has  surrendered,"  and  then  pathetically 
addressing  the  dead,  "I,  Nogi  Mareski,  took 
oath  with  you  to  conquer  or  seek  oblivion  in 
death.  I  have  survived  to  receive  the  Imperial 
thanks,  but  will  not  monopolize  the  glory.  With 
you,  spirits  of  the  dead,  who  achieved  this  great 
result  I  desire  to  share  the  triumph "  ;  I  very 
much  question  whether,  seeing  the  legions  that  had 
to  "share  the  triumph"  with  him,  he  did  not  share 
with  other  soldiers  in  the  world  the  conviction 
that  Port  Arthur  is  probably,  and  ought  to  be, 
the  last  great  siege  that  will  ever  be  undertaken. 


CAPONIERE   GALLERIES  igy 

In  his  own  case,  out  of  two  hundred  thousand 
soldiers  who  from  first  to  last  filled  the  ranks  of 
the  Third  Army  fully  one-half  were  lost  in  killed, 
wounded,  sick,  or  missing,  and  even  Nogi  might 
very  appropriately  have  telegraphed  to  Oyama  : 
''Another  such  victory  and  we  are  lost." 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  describe  forts 
which,  as  we  saw  them,  were  a  mass  of  rubbish, 
unrecognizable  quarries  from  which  not  a  stone 
could  be  picked  for  use,  but  the  mass  of  frag- 
ments of  shells  and  iron  of  all  sorts  mixed  with 
barbed  wire  and  bits  of  bamboo,  together  with 
empty  cartridges  and  tins  and  rags  of  quondam 
uniforms,  still  testified  to  the  hurricane  of  fury 
which  had  wrought  this  annihilation  of  man  and 
his  works. 

Perhaps  Ehrlung  and  North  Keikwan  most 
enabled  us  to  reconstruct  the  forts  as  they  must 
have  originally  stood,  or  more  correctly,  as  our 
military  guides  endeavoured  to  make  us  under- 
stand. We  thus  were  able  to  trace  the  smooth 
glacis  to  which  Kondrachenko  attached  so  much 
importance,  and  on  which  the  Japanese  found  it 
so  difficult  to  get  a  footing  ;  the  upper  trenches, 
where  such  bloody  encounters  took  place,  to  the 
caponiere  galleries  where  most  of  the  deadly  work 
was  accomplished.  Some  of  these  are  still  stand- 
ing and  are  remarkably  well  constructed,  fully 
six  feet  in  height,  with  thick  concrete  walls  fitted 
with  loop-holes  and  protecting  the  moat :  the 
counter  escarpment  wall,  in  sliding  down  which 


igS  PORT   ARTHUR 

into  the  moat  so  many  found  their  death  ;  then 
the  escarpment  rising  to  the  bomb-proof  shelters, 
behind  which  were  guns  in  the  first  line  of 
defence,  and  further  still  the  heavy  fortress  guns 
— every  part  of  the  fort  and  itself  with  other 
positions  being  connected  by  covered  trenches 
and  retreat  tunnels. 

The  main  difficulty  was  apparently  to  get 
possession  of  the  moat  and  caponiere  galleries, 
for  after  that  mining  operations  could  be  relied 
on  to  blow  up  all  the  rest.  Incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  the  existence  of  these  caponiere  chambers 
is  declared  to  have  been  unknown,  or,  at  all 
events,  not  revealed  to  the  attacking  Japanese. 
I  scarcely  believe  it  possible,  but  anyhow  there 
is  no  doubt  that,  notwithstanding  every  effort 
and  every  endeavour,  no  eastern  fort  fell  into 
Japanese  hands  before  i8  December,  1904.  On 
that  day  fell  North  Keikwan,  the  upper  trench 
lines  of  which  had  been  captured  as  far  back  as 
26  October.  It  took  exactly  a  month  to  become 
possessed  of  the  caponiere  chambers,  which  were 
taken  on  26  November,  after  a  struggle  which 
eye-witnesses  have  described  as  a  hell.  Mining 
and  blasting  did  the  rest. 

The  upper  trenches  of  Sung  chu  san  were  also 
captured  on  26  October,  but  in  November  the 
butchery  which  took  place  in  the  moat,  and 
the  desperate  defence  of  the  escarpments,  go  far 
to  show  that  the  Japanese  soldiers,  at  all  events, 
cannot  have  grasped   the  serious   nature   of  the 


IMPATIENCE    OF    SUCCESS  199 

obstacle  they  were  trying  to  overcome.  On 
26  December  they  at  last  got  possession  of  the 
moat  and  galleries,  and  on  31  December,  having 
tunnelled  a  way  right  under  the  centre  of  the 
fort,  and  placed  a  mine  at  that  point,  they  blew 
550  Russians  into  eternity  and  the  fort  into  a 
shapeless  ruin. 

War  critics  appear  to  have  been  rather  severe 
on  Japanese  tactics.  They  may  be  right ;  I  know 
too  little  of  the  subject  to  gainsay  their  sage 
observations,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  very  simple 
causes — such  causes  as  in  the  aggregate  we  like 
to  call  natural  causes — explain  both  the  un- 
doubted impatience  of  success  which  led  the 
Japanese  commander  to  ask  too  much  of  his  too 
willing  men,  and  the  desperate  resistance  of  the 
Russians.  The  Japanese  had  cause  to  be  in  a 
hurry  ;  the  Russians  had  cause  to  put  off  the 
evil  day.  It  is  said  that,  notwithstanding  an 
intelligence  department  of  the  highest  order, 
and  the  possession  of  spies  absolutely  devoted  to 
them,  the  Japanese  were  not  informed  as  to  the 
actual  strength  of  the  forts,  which  they  four  times 
unsuccessfully  attacked.  They  at  all  events  must 
have  known,  and  did  know,  how  modern  forts 
are  constructed,  and  the  resisting  power  of 
cement  walls  of  a  certain  thickness,  but  until 
they  got  the  twenty-eight-centimetre  howitzers 
to  cope  with  this  thickness,  which  they  only  did 
in  the  course  of  September — earlier  despatch  of 
these  destructive  engines  having  been  prevented 


200  PORT  ARTHUR 

by  the  sinking  of  the  '' Hitachi  Maru  "  in  June 
— they  had  to  use  inadequate  weapons,  wielded, 
however,  by  adequate  hands,  and  to  rely  on  the 
bravery  of  their  men  more  than  on  the  excellence 
of  their  guns.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were 
two  reports  which  gave  the  Japanese  com- 
manders much  concern  :  one  was  the  great  in- 
crease of  usefulness  of  the  Siberian  Railway, 
which  daily  reinforced  the  army  commanded  by 
Kuropatkin,  and  the  apprehension  of  the  Baltic 
Fleet  arriving  before  the  taking  of  Port  Arthur 
and  being  reinforced  by  the  not  inconsiderable 
remainder  of  the  Pacific  Squadron  still  at  that 
port. 

The  successes  of  Kuroki  or  of  Oku  were  not 
enough,  before  September,  to  ensure  confidence  in 
ultimate  victory  on  land  ;  nor  were  the  prospects 
of  a  big  fleet  arriving  before  Port  Arthur  was 
taken,  comforting  even  to  those  who  reposed 
most  confidence  in  the  power  of  Togo's  ships  to 
deal  with  them. 

This  double  anxiety,  felt  by  officers  and  men 
in  common,  for  it  is  very  remarkable  how  a  com- 
mon pulse  beats  for  the  men  and  officers  of  the 
Japanese  army,  undoubtedly  created  the  im- 
patience of  the  officers  and  fired  the  men  with 
a  desire  to  be  "up  and  doing."  Their  efforts 
without  the  proper  guns  were  futile  and  dis- 
astrous, and  because  of  this,  critics  have  been 
very  wise  and  condemnatory;  but  every  Japanese 
knew  and  felt  that  until  Port  Arthur  was  taken, 


IMPORTANCE   OF   CAPTURE  201 

their  own  beloved  country  was  not  safe.  The 
stubbornness  of  their  nature  (surely  a  very  British 
characteristic)  grew  with  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  ;  so  much  so,  that  on  many  occasions,  as  I 
was  often  told,  the  men  were  so  carried  away 
by  tenacious  enthusiasm  as  to  be  out  of  hand 
of  divisional  commanders,  and  I  have  been 
assured  by  officers  who  were  present  that  never 
was  such  a  cheer  given  as  that  which  greeted  the 
news  of  the  surrender  among  the  troops  en- 
camped on  the  hills  before  Mukden,  each  man 
realizing  the  importance  of  the  capture. 

The  Russians,  on  the  other  hand,  had  a 
message  from  Kuropatkin,  "a  little  time  and 
still  a  little,"  when  they  would  see  him  appear  as 
the  deliverer,  and  they  knew  that  the  Baltic 
Fleet  was  on  its  way.  I  venture  to  assert  that 
without  these  very  powerful  incentives  to  attack 
or  to  resist,  there  would  have  been  less  blood- 
shed, probably  less  heroism,  and  decidedly  an 
earlier  surrender,  because,  in  my  humble  opinion. 
Port  Arthur  was  a  game  ''not  worth  the  candle," 
and  never  likely  to  be  played  again. 

It  was  painful  to  behold  the  plain  of  Suitchen, 
and  reflect  how  many  thousands  of  useful  lives 
were  buried  in  that  valley  of  death. 

Wontai,  which  we  next  visited,  is  a  conical  hill 
rising  to  some  sixty  feet  above  any  hill  around  it, 
and  on  its  summit  we  found  two  long-range  naval 
guns  still  in  place.  It  was  often  attacked,  be- 
cause from  its  summit  it  was  easy  to  see  the  town 


202  PORT   ARTHUR 

itself  and  the  interior  of  the  great  forts  around 
it.  For  that  reason  its  slopes  had  been  very 
carefully  fortified,  though  when  we  saw  it  not  a 
trace  was  left  of  anything  savouring  of  fortification 
except  sandbags  at  every  step.  Repeated  assaults 
were  powerless  to  reduce  it,  and  it  was  only 
captured  in  the  afternoon  of  i  January,  twenty- 
four  hours  before  the  surrender  of  Port  Arthur. 

East  Keikwan  was  a  ruin  but  not  a  ruin  caused 
by  the  enemy  :  it  was  blown  up  by  the  Russians 
on  I  January. 

Golden  Hill,  on  the  other  hand,  stood  proudly, 
as  it  was  at  the  outset,  a  magnificent  plateau 
bristling  with  artillery  engines  of  the  latest 
pattern,  all  ready  to  annihilate  whatever  crossed 
the  golden  horizon  before  it  or  the  blue  waters 
below.  There  were  two  tiers  of  guns  which 
have  not  been  disturbed.  A  single  Japanese 
artilleryman,  however,  has  now  charge  of  all 
this  destructive  power.  Peace  is  indeed  more 
powerful  than  war. 

In  the  evening  we  bade  adieu  to  our  kindest 
of  hosts,  who  accompanied  us  to  the  station  on 
'  our  way  north  to  Mukden.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  equal  the  generous  hospitality  extended  to  us 
by  the  distinguished  officers  who  did  all  in  their 
power  to  make  our  stay  an  agreeable  one,  and 
that  without  ostentation  or  a  particle  of  pride. 
Yet  all  of  them  have  reason  to  remember  with 
pride  the  prowess  which  has  brought  them  to 
their  high  positions. 


CHAPTER    IX 

Mukden      .         .     Its  battlefields. 
Mukden       .  .      Chinese  matters, 

Yalu  .         .         .      Treaty  of  Portsmouth. 

Mukden,  9  April. 

WE  have  come  up  some  four  hundred  miles 
to  this  place  through  a  country  every  inch 
of  which  has  seen  a  fight  or  a  struggle  ;  which, 
as  a  whole,  constitutes  the  great  Manchurian 
battle-ground,  and  the  field  whereon  Japan  has 
won  her  place  as  a  great  military  Power. 

A  tourist  who  has  motored  to  Waterloo  between 
lunch  and  dinner,  and  has  trusted  the  guides  on 
the  spot  to  refi-esh  his  memory  in  regard  to  the 
eventful  doings  of  18  June,  181 5,  would,  I  fear, 
be  greatly  disappointed  if  he  expected  similar 
facilities  in  these  vast  eastern  regions. 

The  narrow  gauge   does  not  admit  of    much 

speed    in    the    trains,    and,    as    at    present   only 

military  trains   are   permitted,   the  speed   is  still 

lessened  ;    while,   as   to  guides,   there  are   none, 

nor  can  any  be  expected.      Manchuria  is  still  a 

stern  reality.     Its  soil  and  surroundings  have  not 

as  yet  passed  into  regions  of  romance  such  as 

appointed  guides  love  to  utilize. 

203 


204  MUKDEN 

It  may  of  course  be  most  interesting  to  be  shown 
the  exact  spot  where  Kuropatkin,  like  Napoleon  I, 
realized  defeat,  and  still  more  so  the  correct  place 
where  Oyama,  like  Wellington,  felt  that  victory 
was  in  his  grasp  ;  but  Oyama  and  Kuropatkin 
only  could  do  this  with  precision,  and  neither 
of  them  is  available  for  the  purpose.  A  young 
Japanese  officer  put  the  matter  very  clearly  to 
me.  ''All  the  ground,"  he  said,  *' which  you 
have  traversed  forms  part  of  the  battlefields  in 
the  late  war,  but  the  hills  were  the  witnesses  of 
the  real  struggle,  and  these  would  take  you 
months  to  visit  were  you  anxious  to  see  the 
places  where  special  actions  were  fought." 

Our  object  being  rather  a  pilgrimage  to  ground 
so  recently  made  historical,  than  any  particular 
wish  to  study  the  art  of  war  in  its  latest  display,  or 
to  enter  into  the  strategical  merits  of  this  memor- 
able campaign,  it  would  be  useless  for  us  to 
attempt  the  impossible  roads  that  lead  to  the 
hills,  and  we  must  be  content  with  viewing  them 
at  a  distance  and  comprehending  how,  once 
these  hills  captured,  the  plains  on  which  we 
stood  could  at  once  become  so  many  scenes  of 
butchery. 

In  talking  with  Japanese  officers  there  is  one 
thing  which  particularly  struck  me,  viz.  the 
unanimity  with  which  they  all  acknowledged  the 
bravery  and  stubborn  fighting  qualities  of  their 
late  foe  ;  this  I  thought  constituted  a  singularly 
generous  trait  in  their  character:  and  the  equally 


AN    EDUCATED    ARMY  205 

unanimous  opinion  they  all  profess  (even  if  they 
do  not  all  inwardly  entertain  it)  as  to  their  success 
being  due  more  to  the  rank  and  file  of  their  own 
army  than  to  its  commanders.  This  view  is 
strongly  expressed  by  some  who,  without  any 
idea  whatever  of  disparaging  their  chiefs,  or  even 
of  extolling  the  common  soldier,  profess  the 
greatest  admiration  for  the  Japanese  Tommy's 
intelligence  and  pluck.  One  officer  in  par- 
ticular waxed  eloquent  on  the  subject:  *'The 
greatest  battle,"  he  said,  *'was  that  of  Mukden  ; 
the  saddest  that  of  Nanshan  ;  the  most  credit- 
able to  Japan  was  probably  the  Shaho,  but 
all  were  won  by  the  men,  not  by  the  officers. 
The  men  so  entered  into  the  spirit  which 
dictated  the  orders  they  had  to  carry  out,  that 
in  many  cases  when  all  the  officers  and  non- 
commissioned officers  were  hors  de  combat,  the 
men  never  desisted,  but  intelligently  worked  out 
the  wishes  of  their  chiefs."  At  Ning  Ko  (Niu 
chang)  we  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  with 
Mr.  Okabe,  who  is  attached  to  the  Foreign 
Office  at  Tokyo,  and  was  official  interpreter  at 
head-quarters  during  the  entire  war.  He  too 
was  eloquent  in  praise  of  the  Japanese  soldiers, 
and  spoke  most  highly  of  their  intelligence.  He 
stated  that  ''no  less  than  95  per  cent  of  Japanese 
soldiers  employed  during  the  war  could  read  and 
write,"  and  contrasted  this  remarkable  degree  of 
education  with  that  of  the  Russians.  ''Statistics 
revealed,"  he  said,  "  that  out  of  the  whole  number 


2o6  MUKDEN 

of  prisoners  taken  only  5  per  cent  of  officers  and 
men  could  read  and  write."  We  had  ourselves  a 
very  characteristic  proof  of  the  insatiable  desire 
for  acquiring  knowledge  which  distinguishes  the 
Japanese.  One  evening,  our  interpreter  being 
away,  a  common  soldier,  fully  equipped,  as  if  just 
dismissed  from  his  day's  work,  entered  our  room, 
saluted,  smiled,  and  attempted  a  word  or  two  of 
not  very  intelligible  English.  Thinking  he  might 
be  sent  by  the  General  to  convey  some  verbal 
message,  we  tried  our  best  to  make  out  what  he 
wanted,  but  in  vain.  Seeing,  however,  an  Anglo- 
Japanese  dictionary  on  the  table,  he  greedily 
pounced  upon  it,  seeking  out  words  which  should 
express  what  he  required.  Presently  the  inter- 
preter returned,  and  after  the  exchange  of  exactly 
two  words,  the  crestfallen  little  soldier  saluted 
again  and  departed.  He  had,  it  appeared,  '* heard 
that  we  were  English,  and  hence  he  had  come  to 
receive  a  lesson  in  English.  He  did  not  know 
that  we  were  exalted  friends  of  his  august  General, 
and  was  very  sorry  for  his  intrusion."  I  wonder 
where  else  in  the  world  Tommy  Atkins,  tired  or 
not  tired  with  a  day  of  drill  and  toil  and  labour, 
would  seize  an  opportunity  of  learning  a  few 
words  of  a  tongue  foreign  to  his  own  from 
strangers  just  arrived  in  his  locality. 

The  politeness,  the  simplicity,  the  courage,  the 
stoicism,  the  heroism  of  these  great-little  soldiers 
— whose  stature,  however,  did  not  strike  me  as 
being  much  below  that  of  the  French  and  Italians 


COURAGE    IN    AND    BEFORE    ACTION         207 

— are  so  many  traits  which  excite  admiration,  and 
one  could  fill  a  book  with  notable  instances  of 
each  characteristic. 

Mr.  Ashmead  Bartlett  tells  of  a  wounded 
sailor  to  whom  he  had  offered  a  cigar,  and  who 
subsequently  in  the  middle  of  a  terrible  operation, 
during"  which  he  never  uttered  a  word,  so  con- 
stantly tried  to  reach  his  breast-pocket  that  the 
surgeon  asked  him  what  he  was  about.  "  He 
wants  to  give  you  a  cigarette  in  exchange  for  the 
cigar  you  kindly  gave  him,"  said  the  surgeon, 
and  the  operation  had  actually  to  be  delayed  that 
this  might  be  done.  Their  stoicism  is  extra- 
ordinary, and  many  war  correspondents  have 
declared  that  they  never  "  recollect  having  seen 
a  wounded  Japanese  under  an  anaesthetic,  or  heard 
a  groan  escape  from  any  soldier."  I  have  heard, 
however,  that  though  this  may  have  been  the  case 
while  under  the  all-absorbing  excitement  of 
battle,  it  is  not  so  when  the  excitement  has 
ceased  ;  and  that  the  Japanese  then  become  very 
much  like  the  rest  of  mankind — somewhat  restless 
under  suffering.  Of  their  physical  courage,  how- 
ever, there  is  no  doubt.  As  I  have  read  and  can 
readily  believe  from  the  modest  accounts  (too  few 
in  number)  that  I  have  personally  heard,  this 
courage  is  not  simply  born  of  action,  but  pre- 
cedes it.  '*  A  captain  seeing  his  men  driven  back 
during  one  of  the  attacks  on  a  Russian  trench, 
determined  to  sacrifice  himself  to  obtain  victory 
for  his  side.      He   tied   so  many  hand  grenades 


2o8  MUKDEN 

about  him  as  he  could  carry — one  of  his  men 
lighting  all  the  fuses  simultaneously ;  he  then 
hurled  himself  on  the  enemy.  The  grenades, 
bursting  together  in  the  Russian  trench,  inflicted 
terrible  execution.  The  position  was  taken,  but 
the  captain,  of  course,  paid  for  his  gallantry  with 
his  life."  He  had  known  all  along  that  he  must 
necessarily  die  in  such  circumstances. 

If  it  be  not  surprising  that  with  such  intelligence, 
such  physical  courage  and  endurance,  such  moral 
strength  of  will  and  purpose,  the  soldiers  of  Japan 
have  raised  their  country  to  the  rank  of  the  sturdy 
German,  the  agile  Frenchman,  and  the  stubborn 
Britisher,  and  this  despite  tactics  not  altogether 
free  from  criticism,  still,  while  the  result  has 
astonished  Europe,  I  believe  it  has  been  equally 
a  revelation  to  Japan.  For,  be  it  remembered,  the 
men  who  won  the  great  Manchou  battles  are  not 
the  old  fighting  classes  of  Japan,  the  aristocratic 
Samurais,  but  the  sons  of  those  soldiers  who,  not 
later  than  1868,  constituted  the  first  regular  army 
which  Japan  had  ever  possessed  :  the  plebeians, 
tillers  of  the  soil,  common  shopkeepers  of 
Nippon  ;  and  they  have  won  laurels  for  their 
Mikado  superior  to  any  won  by  the  Samurais  in 
their  best  day,  and  have  proclaimed,  as  it  were,  to 
their  Emperor,  in  gratitude  for  his  enlightened 
policy,  how  strong  is  the  throne  that  relies  on  its 
people  and  not  on  a  single  class  among  them. 
Is  there  no  one  who  can  bring  this  truth  home  to 
the  distracted  Czar?     *' Vis  unita  fortior." 


A   CHERISHED   RIFLE  2oy 

A  young  Japanese  soldier  who  travelled  with 
us  interested  us  as  a  type.  He  told  us  that  he 
had  been  at  the  Shaho  and  at  Mukden  ;  that  "  he 
was  not  so  fortunate  as  his  friends  who  had  found 
death  there,"  and  deplored  the  fact  that  he  had 
missed  the  ''great  opportunities  of  using  his  rifle 
before  these  battles  were  fought,"  as  he  longed  to 
have  been  with  Koruki  on  his  successful  march 
westward  and  at  the  battle  of  Liao-yang.  We 
asked  to  see  his  rifle,  and  it  took  him  fully  five 
minutes  to  get  it  out  of  its  several  coverings,  to 
dust  and  wipe  it  before  presenting  it  for  our 
inspection.  *'  It  had,"  he  said,  "accounted  pro- 
perly for  several  cartridges  he  had  used,  and  hence 
deserved  some  nursing."  He  handled  it  with 
tenderness,  and  hugged  it  as  if  it  were  an  infant. 
It  was  clearly  part  of  himself,  ''animse  dimi- 
dium, "  and  he  treasured  it  to  the  full,  as  much  as 
the  old  Samurai  were  wont  to  cherish  their  swords. 
I  suppose  it  was  a  rifle,  every  bullet  of  which 
found  a  billet ;  still,  however  excellent  it  might 
be,  and  however  astonishing  its  efficiency,  let 
us  hope  it  never  will  equal  the  old  Samurai's 
sword  that  is  said  to  have  cut  a  fish-hawker  so 
cleanly  and  dexterously  in  two,  that  until  the 
hawker  bent  himself  to  pick  up  something  the 
head  and  trunk  kept  together,  and  the  man  did 
not  know  he  had  been  touched.  It  might  lead  to 
dangerous  play.  That  blade  is  also  said  to  have 
borne  the  motto,  "There's  nought  'twixt  heaven 
and   earth   that  man  need   fear  who  carries  this 


2IO  MUKDEN 

single  blade  at  his  belt. "  Let  us  hope  the  Japanese 
love  for  a  rifle  will  not  supersede  his  love  of  the 
sword,  for,  if  so,  there  is  nothing  that  man  who 
does  not  carry  a  rifle  will  have  more  to  fear.  For 
the  present,  I  wish  European  soldiers  would  mind 
and  keep  their  weapons  as  well  and  as  carefully 
as  the  Japanese.  Another  Japanese,  talking 
about  the  war,  "deplored  the  great  loss  of  life, 
but  was  not,"  he  said,  '*  in  a  position  to  judge 
whether  it  was  necessary  or  not.  I  dare  say,"  he 
added,  "we  have  made  many  mistakes.  It  is  the 
lot  of  every  one  to  make  them,  but  we  were  in  a 
greater  hurry  than  in  1894,  and  the  Russians 
were  more  determined  opponents  than  the 
Chinese,  so  I  suppose  our  chiefs  appreciated  all 
that  at  its  right  value,  and  we  were  too  happy 
to  fall  in  with  their  views.  You  see,"  he  finally 
remarked,  "they  were  not  wrong  if  judged  by 
results."  This  was  very  submissive  and  proper. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  whatever  their  intimate 
thought  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  war  may 
be,  all  ranks  are  intensely  proud  of  their  achieve- 
ments ;  but  it  has  to  be  gathered  from  a  stray 
word  here  and  there,  a  casual  smile,  or  some  other 
sign  of  contentment,  for  they  are  extremely 
reticent  and  self-contained.  When  good  com- 
radeship has  been  established,  humility  and  good 
feeling  assert  their  place  and  rejoicing  is  not  spoilt 
by  disparagement  of  the  foe.  How  great  was  the 
national  hatred  of  Russia  before  the  war  we  all 
know,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  this  intense  hatred 


EXPECTATION    OF   ANOTHER    WAR  211 

of  a  whole  nation  was  not  one  of  the  forces  that 
enabled  it  to  conquer  ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  the 
war  has  not  only  cooled  down  this  dislike,  but  has 
greatly  changed  the  temper  of  the  Japanese  in 
regard  to  their  late  enemy.  Though  I  have 
scarcely  met  a  single  military  man  who  does  not 
believe  that  sooner  or  later  they  will  have  to  fight 
Russia  once  more,  I  have  not  seen  any  who  spoke 
of  the  Russians  otherwise  than  in  friendly  terms, 
probably  on  the  ground  that  valour  admires  stub- 
bornness, and  this  makes  one  think  that,  unless 
the  Russians  themselves  alter  this  disposition  and 
stupidly  create  new  dislikes,  there  are  some 
prospects  of  a  coming  good  understanding  in 
Manchuria,  even  should  Russia  and  Japan  each 
decline  to  retire  with  an  empty  Manchurian  shell, 
leaving  the  oysters  in  the  hands  of  China,  as  the 
treaty  of  peace  expects  and  requires  them  to  do  in 
April,  1907.  It  is  idle  to  affirm  that  that  treaty, 
which  was  so  little  to  the  liking  of  the  Japanese 
that  serious  riots  took  place  on  its  promulgation, 
is  more  appreciated  now.  The  military  who 
condescend  to  speak  of  it  at  all  make  no  effort  to 
conceal  their  conviction  of  its  futility  as  a  per- 
manent instrument  of  peace,  and  openly  avow 
their  particular  dislike  of  the  partition  of  Sagha- 
lien  on  the  ground  that  there  cannot  be  two 
Kings  of  Brentwood  on  one  throne  ;  while  states- 
men who  know  the  value  of  Manchuria  as  an 
outlet  for  the  surplus  Japanese  population,  natur- 
ally  chafe    at    the    prospect    of    losing   such    an 


212  MUKDEN 

admirable  acquisition  in  the  not  unlikely  event  of 
the  Russians  again  wishing"  some  day  to  assert 
their  claim  to  Eastern  suzerainty.  Finally,  both 
consider  that  after  all  the  Japanese  have  earned 
at  last  the  right  of  asserting  in  turn,  "  J'y  suis  j'y 
reste."  It  is  not  improbable  therefore  that,  as 
Lafontaine  has  it:  "La  raison  du  plus  fort  est 
toujours  la  meilleure,"  and  that  strength  will  carry 
the  day. 

Few  persons  outside  practical  politicians  go 
much  to  the  root  of  what  people  are  pleased  to 
call  national  aims,  being  content  to  study  the 
causes  in  their  effects  ;  yet  a  study  of  these  aims 
is  instructive.  Political  aims  may  be  legitimate 
or  they  may  be  simply  ambitious.  The  history 
of  the  world  shows  that  somehow  in  the  long 
run  ambitious  aims  have  had  better  chances  of 
being  gratified  than  legitimate  ones.  In  Man- 
churia, however,  ambition  for  once  was  non- 
plussed altogether.  The  one  respectable  and 
legitimate  aim  of  Russia  has  been  and  must 
continue  to  be  the  possession  of  a  seaport  free 
of  ice,  in  some  waters  where  her  commerce  will 
not  be  impeded  or  her  shipping  seem  to  be  at 
the  mercy  of  any  Government  which  may  com- 
mand the  outlet.  Encompassed  in  the  Baltic  by 
Germany,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  even  Norway 
— which  is  now  an  independent  kingdom — shut 
out  of  the  Mediterranean,  closed  up  in  the  Black 
Sea,  prevented  in  the  Persian  Gulf  and  forbidden 
by   nature  herself  in   the  far  north  of  her  terri- 


"BEG,    BORROW,    OR   STEAL"  213 

tories,  Russia  possesses  no  outlet  whatever  ex- 
cept at  Vladivostock  for  six  months  in  the  year, 
and  must  necessarily  *'beg,  borrow,  or  steal"  a 
port.  She  has  begged  in  vain,  she  has  borrowed 
in  vain,  and  she  has  tried  to  steal  with  fatal 
results.  She  really  deserves  some  commisera- 
tion. People  have  attributed  her  conquests  to 
ambition  and  have  allowed  her  to  ''expand,"  but 
they  gave  her  no  credit  for  her  legitimate  desire 
to  secure  for  her  produce  a  port  of  importance 
on  the  high  sea  way.  She  has  one  at  the  north 
extremity  of  Siberia ;  it  is  ice-bound,  and  there- 
fore useless.  She  obtained  one  at  Vladivostock, 
and  was  rejoicing,  when  it  was  found  to  be  like- 
wise ice-bound  for  a  great  part  of  the  year.  She 
looked  further  down  and  found  Port  Arthur  and 
Dalny.  She  leased  these  from  China  (probably 
with  no  intention  of  ever  returning  them), 
but  she  borrowed  the  territory  because  it  was 
wholly  free  from  ice.  Her  legitimate  aim 
seemed  to  be  obtained  by  that  policy  of  expan- 
sion to  which  Europe,  excepting  England  (and 
Japan),  had  raised  no  objection,  and  she  might 
have  retained  it  had  not  the  stupid  policy  of 
Admiral  Alexieff  upset  everything.  Russia  on 
his  advice  sought  to  acquire  Korea,  where  she 
must  necessarily  have  run  counter  to  Japan's 
equally  well  defined  requirement  of  expansion 
on  account  of  an  overgrown  population,  and 
insanely  shut  her  eye  to  the  fact  that  Korea  is 
geographically    the   bulwark    of   Japanese    inde- 


214  MUKDEN 

pendence,  to  touch  which  meant  war.  As  if  to 
mark  this  all  the  more,  the  first  acts  of  both 
naval  and  military  warfare  took  place  in  Korea. 
When  stealing,  however,  becomes  burglary,  it  is 
generally  accompanied  or  followed  by  bloodshed  ; 
and  the  pilfering  of  Chinese  territory,  so  as  the 
better  to  commit  burglary  on  Korean,  led  to 
the  late  Eastern  war,  when  the  arrogance  of  the 
Russian  burglar  was  most  deservedly  punished. 
Still,  though  the  punishment  has  been  severe  and 
humiliating,  it  has  left  the  national  policy  of 
Russia  untouched,  since  more  than  ever  she  re- 
quires an  Eastern  sea  outlet  for  the  produce  of  her 
enormous  territory.  The  question,  therefore,  is 
whether  Europe  will  give  her  one  or  whether  one 
should  be  ceded  to  her  at  all.  It  is  too  delicate 
a  question  to  be  treated  in  a  record  of  mere 
travelling  impressions  ;  but  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  in  the  past  generosity  would  have  been 
better  policy  than  want  of  trust — Port  Hamilton 
in  the  sense  of  a  port  was  no  cession  at  all ;  at 
any  rate,  the  time  must  come  when  a  Russian 
cry  for  sea  freedom — a  cry  that  can  develop  into 
another  wish  for  supremacy  in  north-eastern 
seas — will  again  be  raised,  and  the  far-seeing 
Japanese  realize  this,  and  are  sceptic  as  to  a 
peaceful  future.  At  the  same  time,  their  temper 
is  no  longer  that  which  enabled  them  to  sur- 
render advantages  fairly  won  in  battle  at  the 
sole  dictation  of  Europe  some  years  ago,  and 
it  is  perhaps  the  realization   of  this  temper  by 


ARE   CHINA    AND  JAPAN    IN    SYMPATHY?     215 

astounded  Europe  that  has  led  to  the  invention 
of  a  Yellow  Peril.  I  have  been  unable  to  find 
so  much  sympathy  between  the  Chinese  and  the 
Japanese  as  to  constitute  them  friends  likely  to 
bow  in  humility  to  the  superior  qualities  of  each 
other ;  and  should  Japan  eventually  determine 
that  it  would  be  quixotic  on  her  part,  seeing  her 
anticipations  of  the  future,  to  part  with  the  hilly 
positions  she  now  occupies  in  Manchuria,  it  may 
be  that  the  Chinese  will  not  like  the  Japanese 
the  better  for  it.  Be  this,  however,  as  it  may, 
there  is  no  money  to  spare  at  present  on  fortifica- 
tions in  places  which  the  Russians  omitted  to 
strengthen  ;  and  hence  there  is  no  cause  for 
present  anxiety.  The  Peace  of  Portsmouth, 
however,  requires  the  evacuation  of  Manchuria 
in  April,  1907,  by  both  Russians  and  Japanese. 
The  Japanese  have  only  twenty  thousand  men  in 
the  country  at  present,  and  these  are  gradually 
being  withdrawn  ;  but  it  is  only  natural  to  ask 
whether  a  complete  withdrawal  is  wise.  Did 
such  a  Yellow  Peril  really  exist  as  we  are  asked 
to  believe,  there  could  be  no  hesitation  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  Japanese  withdrawing  troops  from 
strategic  positions  since  the  Chinese  themselves 
could  take  care  of  them  in  their  absence,  and 
would  call  them  to  their  aid  at  the  first  appre- 
hension of  danger.  The  peril  still  lies  on  the 
Muscovite  side. 

The  late  war  was  essentially  a  hill  war,   and 
tliC    superiority    of    Japanese    stiategy    over   the 


2i6  MUKDEN 

Russian  lay  in  the  greater  geographical  and  topo- 
graphical knowledge  of  these  hills. 

While  Alexieff  was  playing  a  game  of  bluff — 
in  which  the  Japanese  were  ignored — for  all  it 
was  worth,  the  great  Siberian  Railway  was  being 
pushed  on  by  the  Russian  engineers  as  fast 
as  possible  to  its  two  termini  at  Port  Arthur 
and  at  Dalny  along  the  plains  of  Manchuria. 
There  are  few  mountains  in  the  west,  the  great 
chain  lies  across  Manchuria  from  north-east, 
near  Vladivostock,  to  south-west  in  the  Qwan- 
tung  promontory.  But  the  importance  of  this 
line  apparently  made  the  study  of  such  trifles  as 
the  Motienling  and  Wufengkwan  passes  quite 
secondary,  just  as  the  unit  of  Japan  was  unde- 
serving of  consideration.  What  Russian  in  1903 
ever  conceived  it  possible  that,  beyond  perhaps 
a  battle  at  sea,  the  little  Japanese  would  ever  dare 
measure  themselves  on  land,  and  especially  in 
Manchuria,  against  the  mighty  legions  of  the 
Czar  entrenched  among  impassable  mountains, 
or  impudently  attempt  to  nullify  the  advantage 
of  a  railway  ?  Hence  the  fact,  to  which  suf- 
ficient attention  has  not  been  called,  that  most, 
if  not  all,  the  Japanese  victories  of  the  late  war 
were  due  to  turning  movements,  and  that  these 
in  their  turn  were  successful  not  only  because  of 
superior  Japanese  topographical  knowledge,  but 
also  because  of  Russian  neglect  and  Russian 
disdain. 

At  the  battle  of  the  Yalu  the  victory  was  won 


NANSHAN  217 

by  the  Japanese  turning  the  left  of  Sassulitch's 
army  under  Kashtalinsky,  who  had  realized  the 
importance  of  defending  the  high  banks  of  the 
Ai,  but  was  not  supported  by  his  chief. 

Nanshan  was  won  by  Stoessel's  left  being 
turned  by  the  Osaka  division  of  General  Oku's 
army.  By  the  way  this  battle  has  one  or  two 
features  of  a  remarkable  character.  Gunboats  were 
able,  owing  to  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  ground, 
to  help  both  combatants,  and  actually  held  the 
balance  of  success  for  a  long  time  within  their 
power.  "The  Russian  gunboat  in  Hand  Bay 
almost  caused  the  defeat  of  the  Japanese,  while 
the  three  Japanese  gunboats  in  Kinchau  Bay  did 
actually  bring  about  the  defeat  of  the  Russians." 
It  was  these  gunboats  that  covered  the  turning 
movement  of  the  Osaka  men,  who  waded  waist 
deep  through  the  sea  to  effect  their  object. 

Nanshan  being  an  isthmus  of  only  two  miles 
in  length  forms,  as  it  were,  the  neck  of  the 
bottle-shaped  peninsula  of  Qwantung,  of  which 
the  Liaotung  peninsula  is  the  most  southern  part. 
Had  the  Russian  fleet  not  shut  itself  up  at  Port 
Arthur  or  allowed  itself  to  be  sealed  up  by  Togo's 
torpedoes  and  *'fire  ships,"  this  battle  could 
never  have  been  won  by  the  Japanese  ;  and  if,  as 
I  have  mentioned  before,  the  Japanese  consider 
it  the  "saddest"  of  their  victories  because  of 
their  great  losses,  Russia's  pride  must  ever  look 
upon  it  as  the  saddest  of  her  humiliations. 

The  true  defence  of  Port  Arthur  was  and  re- 


2i8  MUKDEN 

mains  at  Nanshan,  and  Stoessel  allowed  himself 
to  be  beaten  there.  Once  beaten  at  that  spot, 
he  had  nothing  left  but  to  ''bottle"  himself  up 
like  the  fleet  at  Port  Arthur.  Why  the  Japanese 
pursued  him  to  Port  Arthur  beats  understanding, 
unless  "faire  la  guerre  pour  une  idee,"  as  in  the 
days  of  Napoleon  III,  is  still  an  Eastern  possi- 
bility.    They  should  have  stopped  at  Nanshan. 

Liaoyang  tells  of  a  succession  of  similar  turn- 
ing movements  during  the  thirteen  days  which 
this  battle  practically  lasted  ;  for  at  the  outset  the 
Russians  held  all  the  high  positions  south  and  east 
of  Liaoyang  from  Anshantien  to  Hungshaling,  a 
frontage  of  about  forty  miles  ;  and  on  26  August, 
because  of  the  taking  by  Kuroki  of  Hungshaling, 
had  to  give  up  the  whole  of  the  right  bank  of  the 
Tangho  and  retreat  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Liaoyang. 

This  clean-looking  town  was  the  military  centre 
and  the  chosen  battle-ground  of  Kuropatkin.  It 
lies  in  a  plain  surrounded  by  hills  to  the  east  and 
south  and  north,  at  the  junction  of  two  roads — one 
through  the  Motien  Pass  to  the  Yalu,  the  other 
by  rail  to  Port  Arthur  and  to  China  through 
Tachi-chao — and  was  strongly  entrenched  and 
fortified  ;  yet  Kuroki's  constant  successes  on 
Kuropatkin 's  left  obliged  him  to  retire  first  to 
the  river  ;  then  across  the  Taitzcho,  and  finally 
retreat  to  the  heights  above  Mukden,  some 
thirty  miles  further,  though  every  hill  should 
have  been  known  to  the  Russian  staff. 


TACHI-CHAO  219 

It  was  the  same  everywhere,  and  this  strength- 
ens, should  the  argument  want  strengthening, 
the  Japanese  contention  that  this  war  was  the 
triumph  of  education  over  ignorance.  It  was 
probably  the  result  of  more  than  that,  but  per- 
haps that  is  the  best  way  of  putting  it. 

At  Tachi-chao  on  our  way  north  we  breakfasted 
with  a  delightfully  merry  General  of  the  name  of 
Tember,  who  spoke  German,  and  is  at  the  head 
of  the  military  railways  in  Manchuria.  He  did 
not  volunteer  any  statements  about  the  war,  but 
gave  us  some  vodka,  which  he  said  ''had  been 
left  by  Kuropatkin "  when  he  retreated  north, 
and  as  it  was  very  good  he  regretted  that  '*the 
Russian  commander  had  not  left  a  little  more 
behind."  Two  bottles,  he  thought,  was  too  little 
for  a  Commander-in-Chief  to  spare  "  if  he  wished 
gratefully  to  be  remembered."  At  Liaoyang, 
where  unfortunately  we  could  not  stay  as  long 
as  we  wished  and  as  our  amiable  hosts  wanted 
us  to  do,  we  were  most  hospitably  entertained 
by  Colonel  Kojima  and  Lieutenant  -  Colonel 
Watanabe.  They  too,  like  all  the  officers  we 
met,  whether  high  or  subaltern,  were  mute  on 
the  subject  of  personal  deeds,  and  we  would  have 
felt  it  indiscreet  to  press  them. 

Mukden,  10  April. 

It  was,  I  think,  5  a.m.  when  yesterday  our 
train  stopped  in  what  seemed  open  country,  and 
a  Japanese  officer  delivered  a  message  which  we 


220  MUKDEN 

were  either  too  cold  or  too  sleepy  to  make  out. 
He  therefore  discreetly  left  us  to  the  enjoyment  of 
our  carriage  until  some  soldiers  at  eight  o'clock 
requested  us  to  come  to  a  spacious  shed,  where, 
over  a  charcoal  fire  below  the  flooring,  we  might 
warm  our  hands  and  feet.  The  shed  was  decor- 
ated with  paper  flags  of  all  nations  in  the  manner 
of  a  ship  dressed  in  honour  of  a  great  occasion, 
and  this  we  were  told  was  because  troops  were 
constantly  arriving  from  the  north  on  their  way 
back  to  Japan,  and  stopped  at  Mukden  between 
two  trains  to  fraternize  with  the  garrison  there. 

After  a  time  we  sat  down  to  an  excellent  break- 
fast cooked  by  the  Tommies,  and  when  we  had 
done  justice  to  it  we  proceeded  to  the  officers' 
quarters  placed  at  our  disposal  by  General  Ando 
Teitchero,  military  commandant  of  the  place,  to 
whom  we  at  once  paid  a  ceremonious  visit.  After 
plying  us  with  tea  and  cigarettes  and  polite 
phrases,  he  placed  us  in  Chinese  carts,  with 
directions  to  see  the  Civil  Administrator,  who 
lived  in  the  town  itself,  and  who  would,  he  had  no 
doubt,  attend  to  our  requirements. 

After  the  most  desperate  jolting  in  these 
desperate  vehicles  we  reached  the  Japanese 
Administrator's  house,  but  he  was  indisposed, 
and  we  did  not  see  him.  His  second  in  com- 
mand, however,  Mr.  Mori,  though  tired  with 
early  rising — for  he  it  was  who  called  on  us 
officially  at  5  a.m. — and  apparently  not  quite 
recovered  from  his  thankless  ride  of  six  miles  at 


OLD   MANCHU    CITY  221 

SO  early  an  hour,  offered  to  show  us  the  town. 
We  lunched  with  him  at  a  Japanese  restaurant, 
visited  the  Treasury,  where  we  were  shown 
some  fine  porcelain  vases,  swords,  and  delicately 
chiselled  jade  ornaments,  as  well  as  a  brand-new 
lacquer  helmet,  and  were  pointed  out  the  houses 
which  had  been  occupied  by  generals  and  their 
staffs  on  the  taking  of  Mukden  by  the  Japanese. 

Mukden  is  really  made  up  of  three  towns  and 
an  outer  town.  The  outer  town  is  the  Russian 
settlement  which  sprang  up  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  railway,  and  which  is  fully  three  miles 
away  from  Mukden  proper.  This  old  Manchu 
city  contains  about  200,000  inhabitants,  who 
live  in  well-built  houses  between  the  eight  city 
gates,  of  which  there  are  two  rows.  The  first 
gates  open  into  what  at  the  outset  was  the  suburb 
of  old  Mukden,  and  then  come  the  gates  that  lead 
into  the  walled  city  itself.  All  gates  are  locked 
at  night. 

It  bears  a  cachet  of  its  own,  partly  Tartar, 
partly  Chinese,  and  partly  European,  owing  to  the 
late  contact  with  Russian  armies,  who  made  life 
merry  while  they  were  there  and  enriched  the 
inhabitants.  But  on  the  whole  it  is  disappoint- 
ing, as  all  mongrel  towns  are.  The  Japanese, 
however,  seemed  quite  at  home  in  this  distant 
city.  Their  troops  appeared  to  march  to  new 
quarters  as  by  instinct,  and  the  inhabitants 
ignored  their  presence  as  by  settled  purpose  ;  at 
least,    we   thought  so  on  beholding   a  company 


222  MUKDEN 

fresh  from  Japan  march  to  their  appointed  billets 
in  the  town.  Surely  this  indifference  does  not 
point  to  Chinese  and  Japanese  caring  much  for 
each  other  ;  but  perhaps  it  is  due  to  the  Chinese 
looking  upon  the  Japanese  as  too  earnest  task 
masters.  It  is  certainly  to  Japanese  credit  as  well 
as  to  their  initiative  that  some  of  the  oldest  and 
most  beautiful  temples  in  Mukden  are  now  being 
restored  after  such  long  and  inexcusable  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  Manchu  governors. 

Even  the  great  tombs  erected  to  the  Manchu 
sovereigns  outside  the  town,  both  in  the  north 
and  in  the  east,  which  the  belligerents  engaged 
to  respect,  are  only  now  receiving  attention,  and 
are  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition. 

They  must  have  been  very  fine  once,  and  even 
yet  are  grand  in  decay,  but  the  personalities 
whose  remains  they  preserve  do  not  appeal  to  one 
much,  though  I  understand  they  were  great  sove- 
reigns in  their  day,  and  they  laid  especial  claim  to 
purity  of  race  and  descent. 

The  woods  that  encircle  the  tombs  are,  on  the 
other  hand,  quite  delightful — so  many  oases  in 
the  desert  plain  swept  over  by  furious  winds  which 
raise  impenetrable  clouds  of  dust. 

I  was  told  by  a  cavalry  officer  that  in  a  pursuit 
of  the  Russians  after  some  engagement — I  do 
not  exactly  remember  which — the  dust  raised  by 
a  high  wind  was  such  that  he  could  not  see  a 
foot  in  front  of  his  horse's  head  ;  and  I  im- 
plicitly believe  the  statement,  for  on  our  return 


A   TARTAR   GOVERNOR  223 

to  our  quarters  near  the  station  a  blinding  cold 
northerly  wind  kept  our  eyes  shut  and  our 
sympathies  pouring  out  to  those  who,  in  similar 
circumstances,  had  crossed  these  sandy  plains  in 
hasty  retreat. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  Chinese  Governor,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Mori,  and  had  an  interesting 
opportunity  of  comparing  national  characteristics. 
It  was  purely  a  visit  of  courtesy,  but  the  difference 
between  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  was  very 
marked.  Chao,  the  Tartar  Governor,  was  con- 
descending rather  than  polite.  He  principally 
busied  himself  with  asking  me  why  I  should  wish 
to  see  him  at  all,  as  I  was  in  good  Japanese  hands, 
and  almost  ignored  the  presence  of  my  Japanese 
companion,  who,  I  must  say,  had  not  been  very 
keen  to  pay  this  visit  with  me.  Thanks,  however, 
to  a  Chinese  secretary,  who  spoke  French  very 
well  and  had  been  at  the  Chinese  Embassy  in 
Paris,  Chao,  who  spoke  Chinese  only,  thawed 
after  a  time  and  proved  both  intelligent  and 
interesting.  He  has  progressive  views,  which, 
of  course,  during  this  time  of  occupation  cannot 
find  much  scope,  and  appear  at  present  to  take 
the  shape  of  repairing  his  house  and  the  streets 
that  lead  to  it.  This  is,  no  doubt,  a  preparation 
to  the  improvements  he  will  start  in  Mukden 
later  on.  But  confidence  in  strangers  is  not  one 
of  his  merits,  for  on  my  observing  how  ex- 
clusivism  worked  prejudicially  to  the  general 
welfare,    he   merely  said,    "It  might  be    to   the 


224  MUKDEN 

general  welfare  of  some  nations,  but  not  of  China, 
for  she  had  shown  confidence  in  strangers  and 
had  not  always  been  rewarded.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,"  he  added,  ''we  have  cause  to  dread  foreigners 
and  their  promises."  Had  he  spoken  Latin  he 
would  have  quoted  the  time-honoured  "Timeo, " 
etc.,  but  he  did  not,  for  which  I  was  grateful. 

Chao's  manner  was  excellent  :  dignified  and 
high  bred,  it  reminded  me  perhaps  more  of  a 
French  gentleman  of  the  old  school  than  of  any 
one  else.  With  all  his  caution  and  studied 
politeness,  however,  it  was  very  evident  that  his 
Chinese  pride  suffered  from  the  existing  condition 
of  things,  and  I  once  more  was  impressed  with 
the  little  love  there  really  is  between  those  two 
Eastern  races  on  the  close  union  of  which  peril 
is  apprehended  in  the  future. 

Manchuria  is  so  overrun  by  Chinese  from  within 
the  walls,  that  the  Manchus  ''without"  are  fast 
becoming  a  minority  in  their  own  land  ;  and  as 
the  Manchus  are  only  labourers  or  brigands  and 
not  merchants  or  business  men,  it  follows  that 
the  South  Chinaman  rules  the  purse  and  dictates 
the  law,  and  the  Manchu  knocks  under.  In 
twenty  years,  in  a  country  where  sowing  and 
reaping  operations  have  to  be  carried  out  within 
a  space  of  four  months,  and  where  mining  opera- 
tions could  not  previously  be  undertaken  for  want 
of  hands  among  the  Manchus,  the  diligent  Chinese 
have  developed  the  resources  of  the  country  in 
such  a  way  as  to  raise  the  value  of  exports,  which 


DELAY    IN    OPENING   PORTS  225 

in  1880  was  only  ;^  17, 000,  to  over  ;£^  1,200,000  in 
1899 — that  is — at  the  rate  of  ;^6o,ooo  a  year. 

Such  a  result  speaks  volumes  in  favour  of  their 
industrious  habits  and  their  commercial  ability. 
The  latter,  I  believe,  is  unique  in  the  world,  and 
the  Japanese  are  undoubtedly,  though  they  do  not 
and  perhaps  cannot  acknowledge  it,  somewhat 
jealous. 

In  these  regions,  which  are  still  under  military 
occupation,  but  will  at  all  events  be  freed  presently 
of  military  dictatorship,  it  is  interesting  to  watch 
the  struggle  (for  it  is  scarcely  a  fight)  between 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese  as  to  who  will  eventu- 
ally secure  the  commercial  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  Japanese  efforts  to  liberate  Chinese 
Manchuria  of  Russian  fetters.  Gratitude  as  a 
virtue  is  unknown  to  the  Chinese,  and  constitutes 
the  great  contrast  between  Japan  and  China.  It 
may  be  that  gratitude  is  the  privilege  of  the  young 
and  of  the  innocent,  and  that  China,  like  Eng- 
land, takes  services  rendered  as  a  matter  of 
course,  because  it  is  too  old  or  too  proud  or  too 
great  to  condescend  to  acknowledge  a  moral 
debt ;  but  Japan,  who,  in  its  honest  simplicity, 
does  not  understand  this  want  of  recognition,  is 
hurt  thereat  and  swears  retaliation. 

Hence  her  delay — by  no  means  her  disinclina- 
tion— in  opening  ports  which  she  has  declared 
will,  in  time,  be  free  to  all  the  world.  It  is 
natural  that  she  should  desire  to  see  the  right  sort 
of  Japanese  previously  settle   at   Dalny,  at  Port 

Q 


226  MUKDEN 

Arthur,  at  Ning  Ko,  and  at  Antung,  so  as  to 
possess  some  guarantee  of  fair  competition  when 
the  Chinese,  who  are  only  awaiting  the  official 
declaration  to  pour  in  numbers  into  these  places, 
make  their  bid  for  commercial  supremacy.  The 
competition  is  a  formidable  one  ;  for  the  Chinese 
have  a  reputation  for  scrupulous  honesty  in 
trade  transactions  which  somehow  the  Japanese 
do  not  appear  as  yet  to  possess.  The  latter  are, 
however,  conscious  of  this  drawback,  and  will  not 
fail  to  remove  it.  M.  Inazo  Nitobe,  who  travelled 
with  us  to  Dalny  and  is  one  of  Japan's  most  en- 
lightened instructors,  has  written  a  remarkable 
little  book  entitled  "  Bushido  "  (to  which  I  hope 
to  refer  later  on  at  greater  length),  in  which  he 
plainly  says:  ''A  loose  business  morality  has 
indeed  been  the  worst  blot  on  our  national  reputa- 
tion"; and  having  thus  acknowledged  the  painful 
fact,  goes  on  to  show  in  a  very  masterly  manner 
how,  ''of  the  three  incentives  to  veracity  enumer- 
ated by  Lecky,  viz.  the  industrial,  the  political, 
and  the  philosophical,  the  first  was  altogether 
lacking  in  Bushido  ;  the  second  could  not  develop 
much  under  a  feudal  system  ;  but,  in  its  highest 
aspect,  viz.  the  philosophical,  honesty  attained 
elevated  rank  in  the  Japanese  catalogue  of  virtue"; 
and  necessarily  concludes  that  if  trade  in  the 
days  of  the  Samurai  was  ''placed  lowest  in  the 
category  of  vocations,"  and  that  feudalism  was 
abolished  "only  a  few  years  after  Japanese  treaty 
ports  were  opened  to  foreign   trade,   it  is  clear 


PERE   VAILLEMOT  227 

that  "only  the  most  adventurous  and  unscrupu- 
lous rushed  to  the  ports,  while  the  respectable 
business  houses  declined  for  some  time  the 
repeated  requests  of  the  authorities  to  establish 
branch  houses  there."  But  as  trade  is  being 
lifted  into  more  respectable  spheres,  there  is  daily 
less  room  for  the  unscrupulous  :  and,  while  the 
commercial  code  of  morals  is  being  raised,  even 
Japanese  adventurers  are  realizing  that,  in  trade, 
honesty  is  the  best  policy. 

I  also  paid  a  visit  to  Pere  Vaillemot,  who  has 
been  fifteen  years  at  Mukden,  and  speaks  Chinese 
infinitely  better  than  French,  his  native  tongue, 
which  he  has  almost  forgotten.  He  belongs  to 
that  great  missionary  institution  in  the  rue  du 
Bac,  in  Paris,  from  which  so  many  young  priests 
have  gone  forth  voluntarily  to  torture  and  martyr- 
dom in  the  cause  of  religion  without  any  ex- 
pectation of  ever  returning  to  their  native  land. 
What  this  expatriation  means  to  a  Frenchman 
is  enough  to  indicate  the  immensity  of  the  sacri- 
fice at  the  start  of  life,  and  is  a  keynote  to  these 
admirable  men's  whole  existence. 

Pere  Vaillemot  accompanied  the  Russians 
when  they  retreated  from  Mukden,  but  soon 
came  back  on  hearing  that  the  Japanese  were 
prepared  to  extend  protection  to  all  Europeans. 
Having  asked  him  to  what  cause  he  attributed 
the  series  of  defeats  sustained  by  the  Russians, 
he  replied  that,  whatever  other  causes  there  may 
have    been    with    which    he    personally    was    not 


228  MUKDEN 

acquainted,  the  main  reason,  he  felt  convinced, 
was  the  apathy  of  the  Russian  soldiers,  with 
whom  the  war  was  unpopular,  and  scores  of 
whom  had  asked  him  why  it  was  waged. 

His  church  was  in  ruins,  and  he  trusted  that 
"le  bon  Dieu"  would  send  him  means  to  rebuild  it 
for  the  benefit  of  "  mes  chers  petits  chinois."  He 
very  much  deplored  the  destruction  of  his  church 
by  the  Boxers,  whom  he  described  as  misguided 
barbarians,  working  for  evil  in  an  evil  cause. 

I  cannot  make  out  whether  this  Boxer  rising 
was  a  national  movement  or  not.  Mr.  Putman 
Weale  thinks  it  was  merely  '*a  natural  outbreak, 
proving  that  a  species  of  spontaneous  combus- 
tion occurs  with  the  greatest  ease  among  loosely- 
governed  Eastern  people."  But  if  so,  there  is 
little  difference  between  a  natural  outbreak  and 
a  national  movement,  as  both  occur  with  ease 
by  what  he  terms  a  "species  of  spontaneous 
combustion."  Pere  Vaillemot  attributed  it  to  an 
insane  fear,  which  occasionally  rises  to  a  degree 
of  paroxysm,  lest  the  religions  taught  by  the 
foreigner  only  cover  ambitions,  which  must  be 
checked  at  all  cost.  In  this  sense  the  natural 
outbreak  becomes  a  dangerous  tool  that  can  be 
wielded  at  will  by  an  unscrupulous  leader,  and 
recalls  chapters  in  the  history  of  Russian  Eastern 
policy  in  the  Bulgarian  Church  movement ;  in 
the  Anti-Hassounite  troubles  in  Asia  Minor; 
and  in  other  previous  politico-religious  questions 
with  which  we  are  well  acquainted. 


GABATO  229 

At  any  rate,  the  Russians  claimed  and  got  full 
compensation  for  their  share  in  putting  down  the 
Boxer  movement,  though  their  assistance  was 
not  very  efficient ;  but  the  Japanese,  who  on  that 
occasion  co-operated  for  the  first  time  with 
European  troops,  for  the  first  time  also  com- 
passed the  value  of  those  troops.  She  allied 
herself  with  England,  learned  the  art  of  war  from 
German  masters,  and  fought  Russia. 

Antung,  13  April. 

The  distance  between  Mukden  and  Antung  is 
160  miles.  We  have  taken  exactly  twenty-four 
hours  to  get  here  ;  have  ascended  and  descended 
four  mountains,  crossed  and  recrossed  the  same 
river  a  dozen  times  ;  have  admired  most  beautiful 
mountain  and  valley  scenery,  and  have  rested  for 
twelve  hours  at  Gabato,  which  is  half-way  ;  and 
have  all  the  time  been  filled  with  admiration  for 
General  Kuroki,  who  in  this  hilly  region  vic- 
toriously led  the  First  Army,  driving  the  Russians 
back  from  every  strong  position  they  had  had 
ample  time  to  fortify,  and  inspiring  them  with  a 
wholesome  dread  of  his  very  name. 

At  Gabato,  where  we  rested  for  the  night,  we 
were  conducted  from  the  station  in  procession  to 
what  seems  to  be  a  rest  house,  and  were  deposited 
with  some  ceremony,  together  with  such  neces- 
sary articles  of  dress  as  we  brought  with  us,  in  a 
perfectly  empty  room,  and  informed  that  on  the 


230  ANTUNG 

morrow  at  seven  we  would  resume  the  journey. 
We  proceeded  by  dint  of  rugs  to  make  ourselves 
comfortable  on  the  matted  floor,  but  Japanese 
paper  windows  and  slidings  not  constituting 
much  protection  against  cold  and  wind  we  felt 
the  north  Siberian  blast  rather  severely  during 
the  night,  and  sleep  suffered  in  consequence. 

But  the  air  was  so  pure  and  delicious  in  the 
morning  that  all  discomfort  of  the  night  was  soon 
forgotten,  and  our  further  journey  was  one  of 
simple  unalloyed  enjoyment. 

A  Decauville  train  on  a  very  narrow  gauge  has 
one  advantage.  If  the  line  is  laid  through  fine 
landscape  the  traveller  can  revel  in  his  admira- 
tion of  it,  for  he  has  plenty  of  time  to  see  it  in  all 
its  aspects  ;  but  I  venture  to  hope  that  a  broader 
gauge  will  soon  enable  longer  trains  to  run  the 
distance,  and  thus  permit  travellers  to  visit  this 
unknown  and  in  some  respects  unrivalled  region. 
I  have  pointed  out,  wherever  I  could,  how  re- 
munerative it  would  be  to  the  Japanese  could 
they  facilitate  a  visit  to  these  historical  places  by 
a  few  good  hotels  at  Port  Arthur,  Liaoyang, 
Mukden,  Gabato,  and  Antung,  together  with 
proper  railway  accommodation.  At  present  even 
the  trains  are  run  by  the  military  ;  and  it  is  far 
from  my  thoughts  to  complain  in  any  way  or  of 
anything,  for  we  were  too  grateful  to  the  Japanese 
authorities  to  allow  us  to  travel  at  all  to  justify 
any  such  grumbling  ;  but  while  the  world  is 
waiting  for  the  opening  out  of  Manchurian  ports. 


FERTILE    PLAIN  231 

it  may  be  as  well  to  include  the  opening  out  of 
the  beautiful  Manchurian  inland  country. 

At  Fenghuangfchen,  for  instance,  the  fertile 
plain  which  the  most  fantastically  shaped  moun- 
tains encompass,  there  is  all  that  is  necessary  to 
build  a  large  and  prosperous  commercial  inland 
centre  with  its  harbour  at  Antung  only  fifteen 
miles  off.  It  was  quite  easy  while  walking  along 
its  little  clean  station  platform  to  build  castles 
in  the  air  and  picture  the  sort  of  old  English 
cottage  one  would  like  to  build  on  some  one 
spur  of  the  numberless  hills  around.  But  for 
a  similar  idea  to  take  shape  in  others,  seeing 
must  precede  doing,  and  seeing  is  still  a  consider- 
able difficulty. 

Everywhere  on  the  road,  however,  we  saw  signs 
of  Japanese  settlement ;  not  very  pronounced,  but 
decided.  Coal  mines  bought  by  rich  Japanese 
from  Tokyo  are  beginning  to  be  worked  ;  timber 
to  be  felled  for  use  in  building  houses  ;  other 
soil  riches  are  being  prospected,  and  at  Antung 
itself  new  streets  are  being  traced,  paved,  and 
opened. 

The  night  of  our  arrival,  however,  we  had  no 
very  cheery  experience  of  the  present  condition 
of  the  streets  of  Antung ;  for  the  excellent 
Colonel  who  drove  me  to  our  hotel  and  myself 
were  wellnigh  pitched  out  of  our  vehicle  a  dozen 
times  in  as  many  steps.  ''  Not  gooode  "  he  kept 
repeating,  but  I  had  no  means  of  echoing  the 
sentiment,   for  at  each  attempt  the  words   were 


232  ANTUNG 

stopped  by  a  more  vivacious  and  dangerous  lurch 
than  the  last.  The  Colonel  did  not  seem  to  mind 
it  in  the  least,  and  I  was  greatly  impressed  by  the 
solidity  of  manly  frames  which  are  not  disturbed 
by  oscillations  so  pronounced. 

I  had  pleaded  for  quick  retirement  after  a 
tiring  though  delightful  journey,  but  our  hospit- 
able warrior  host  would  not  hear  of  it.  As  we 
entered  the  hotel  sounds  of  music  were  un- 
equivocal. Lights  were  lit  in  every  chamber, 
and  smiling  little  ''mousmes"  swarmed  around 
us  to  take  off  overcoats  and  boots  and  give  us 
slippers  and  comfort ;  dragging  us  into  the  hall 
of  reception,  making  us  sit  down  ;  propping  our 
backs  with  cushions ;  kneeling  before  us  for 
orders,  until  another  troop  of  attendants  pattered 
through  the  room  with  dishes  to  be  laid  before 
us,  and  sake  in  bowls  to  quench  our  thirst,  after 
all  of  which  came  geishas  innumerable  to  regale 
us  with  dance  and  music. 

At  one  o'clock  I  fear  I  almost  angered  my 
host  by  declining  any  more  entertainment,  so  fast 
and  furious  was  the  run  of  hospitality  ;  but  it 
had  to  be  done,  as  not  only  could  physical  nature 
no  longer  keep  awake,  but  we  were  to  be  up  by 
five  so  as  to  cross  the  Yalu  in  time  for  the  only 
train  of  the  day  on  the  Korean  side. 

If  ever  Captain  Fugii  and  the  amiable  Colonel 
see  these  pages,  may  they  accept  my  apologies, 
together  with  my  grateful  acknowledgments. 
They  gave  us  a  gala  night  on  the  Yalu  River 


GALA   NIGHT   ON   THE    YALU  233 

which  few  Europeans  have  as  yet  enjoyed,  and 
they  did  so  in  one  of  the  new  Japanese  inns 
which  are  to  adorn  the  enterprise  of  Japanese 
immigration.  It  was  a  very  good  inn,  and  a 
very  Hvely  inn,  but  it  would  be  better — I  should 
say  more  restful — for  keeping  earlier  hours  and 
fewer  musicians. 

Antung  is  decidedly  a  promising  place,  and  no 
doubt  in  time  will  become  a  flourishing  harbour, 
to  a  greater  and  more  flourishing  town,  such  as 
Fenghuangchen,  which  I  have  spoken  of;  but 
much  has  to  be  done,  and  much  is  being  done. 

Though  the  great  turning  movement  by  the 
Ai  river  which  sealed  Kuroki's  first  success  over 
the  Russians — viz.  the  victory  known  as  the 
battle  of  the  Yalu — took  place  so  far  away  from 
Antung  that  the  town  itself  saw  no  fighting,  and 
the  Russian  troops  only  hastily  abandoned  it 
to  support  Kashtalensky's  beaten  forces  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  Antung  was  the  prize  of  the 
victory,  and  this  being  so,  Antung  has  a  special 
value  in  Japanese  eyes. 

Bearing  the  fact  in  mind,  the  question  natur- 
ally suggests  itself.  Will  the  Japanese  part  with 
Antung  ;  and  if  they  do  not,  what  will  be  the 
future  relations  between  the  Russians  and  them- 
selves ?  This  single  question  raises  of  course  the 
greater  one  as  to  the  ephemeral  or  lasting  effects 
of  the  Portsmouth  Treaty  of  Peace,  and  as  to  its 
being  an  instrument  conducive  to  a  permanent 
settlement  or  not.     I  incline,  with  all  the  Japanese 


234  ANTUNG 

with  whom  I  have  spoken,  to  believe  that  the  very 
terms  of  the  treaty  of  peace  make  for  another 
war,  and  to  share  with  them  the  conviction 
that  patched-up  reconciliations  are  only  fights 
postponed. 

Much  blood-lettingf  has  cooled  down  both 
hatred  of  the  Russians  and  narrow-minded  dis- 
like of  foreigners  in  general ;  but  these  incentives 
to  war  at  the  outset  are  not  to  be  set  aside  as 
done  with.  Reconciliation  means  qualified  or 
absolute  forgiveness  ;  it  never  means  oblivion.  A 
Japanese  war  song,  translated  into  English  rhyme 
by  Sir  Ian  Hamilton,  and  published  by  him  in 
his  first  volume  of  '*A  Staff  Officer's  Scrap 
Book,"  reveals  the  animus  which  possessed  all 
Japanese  as  they  marched  to  battle. 

Sons  of  Nippon,  down  with  Russia ! 
Down  with  Russia  !  lay  her  low  ; 
Faith  and  justice  Russia  scoffs  at, 
Russia  is  our  mortal  foe. 

Russia  'twas  that  urged  **  for  peace  sake  " 
Render  back  the  Liao-Tung  ! 
Scarce  had  ink  dried  on  the  treaty, 
Than  another  tune  was  sung. 

Comrades,  can  we  live  forgetting 
Comrades  gallant,  comrades  slain 
Ten  years  since  ?     Oh!  Powers  ancestral, 
Did  your  life  blood  flow  in  vain  ? 

March  then  with  our  sunlight  banner 
Waving  proudly  in  the  van, 
March  beneath  that  glorious  emblem — 
Down  with  Russia  !  on  Japan  ! 


JAPANESE   POLICY  235 

There  are  several  other  such  verses,  but  these 
are  enough  to  show  how  the  giving  up  of  Port 
Arthur,  which  they  had  fairly  won  from  the 
Chinese  in  1894,  rankled  in  the  minds  of  the 
Japanese  ;  how  they  despised  the  instigators  of 
that  renunciation,  and  how  they  hated  the 
Russians,  who  had  benefited  by  their  humilia- 
tion. This  humiliating  concession  to  Western 
power  sank  deep  in  the  public  mind,  and  made 
for  unity  of  the  whole  nation  when  the  hour 
struck  for  revenge.  Russians  are  believed  to 
be  excellent  diplomatists.  The  Japanese  knew 
better.  They  knew  that  bluff  is  the  result  of 
weakness,  and  they  could  see  no  other  policy  but 
bluff.  They  knew  all  about  Port  Arthur,  and 
they  saw  it  being  fortified  in  the  wrong  places. 
They  knew  all  about  the  Yalu,  and  saw  it  weakly 
defended.  They  knew  they  were  looked  down 
upon  by  the  Russians,  and  they  determined  to 
make  them  look  up.  They  knew  that  no  foreign 
Power  can  hold  an  inch  of  Manchuria  without 
being  master  of  the  seas  which  encompass  it 
on  three  sides,  and  they  resolved  to  be  that 
master.  China  was  being  hoodwinked  ;  they 
took  up  the  cause  of  China  for  the  Chinese,  but 
Korea  for  themselves ;  and  having  succeeded 
they  must  banish  bluff  from  their  diplomacy, 
deal  differently  with  Port  Arthur,  consider  the 
Yalu  as  Korean,  not  Manchurian,  and  therefore 
under  their  protection  ;  and  they  must  accept 
the    responsibilities    of  dictators    in    the    north- 


236  ANTUNG 

eastern  seas.  But  to  be  masters  of  the  north- 
eastern seas  implies  the  possession  of  certain 
ports  ;  that  is  why  Vladivostock  from  the  very 
first  became  necessarily  part  of  the  Japanese 
programme,  quite  as  much  as  Chemulpo  or  Port 
Arthur,  or  the  Elliot  Islands  or  Sutschima,  or 
the  entrance  to  the  Inland  Sea.  Vladivostock, 
though  ice-bound  for  six  months  in  the  year,  is 
most  advantageously  situated  from  a  strategic 
point  of  view,  as  very  serious  raids  can  at  any 
time  be  organized  in  its  harbour  for  descent  on 
Japanese  territory  and  shipping,  or  on  land  for 
an  invasion  of  Korea.  Hence  the  retention  of 
Vladivostock  by  Russia,  if  not  of  much  account 
at  this  time,  may  eventually  prove  a  very  serious 
thorn  in  the  side  of  Japan,  and  at  any  rate  may 
oblige  her  to  keep  up  a  strong  fleet  and  strong 
garrisons  at  a  cost  otherwise  unnecessary,  so  as 
to  guard  against  any  possible  surprise. 

The  Russians  are  not  likely  to  forget  Chemulpo 
in  a  hurry,  nor  the  rapidity  with  which  the  Japan- 
ese dealt  the  first  naval  blow  at  the  "Variag" 
and  "  Korietz."  The  recollection  will  stimulate 
future  Russian  commanders  to  similar  rapidity, 
when  opportunity  serves,  and  the  Japanese  must 
continue  on  the  alert. 

Saghalien  can  always  provide  the  opportunity 
of  a  quarrel.  A  real  or  got-up  fight  between 
Japanese  fishermen  in  the  south  of  the  island 
with  Russian  fishermen  in  the  north  can  at  any 
time  become  the  signal  for  dashing   enterprise 


INSECURE    PEACE  237 

and  a  bloody  encounter.  There  is  nothing  but 
an  arbitrary  line  of  demarcation  that  can  pro- 
nounce one  part  of  Saghalien  to  be  Russian  and 
the  other  Japanese,  and,  in  the  event  of  a  fisher- 
man's broil,  there  is  nothing,  not  even  "a  piece 
of  mahogany,"  to  preserve  the  dignity  of  the 
two  countries,  as  it  did  in  a  famous  oratorical 
duel  between  Gladstone  and  Disraeli.  The  re- 
tention of  part  of  Saghalien  by  Russia,  coupled 
with  her  retention  of  Vladivostock,  does  not  and 
cannot  make  for  future  peace. 

But  why  did  Russia  with  two  fleets  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  and  a  beaten  army  insist  on 
preserving  these  two  places,  Vladivostock  and 
half  of  Saghalien  ?  If,  as  a  rule,  where  mischief 
broods  ''cherchez  la  femme  "  will  clear  the  mys- 
tery, in  Russian  politics  "  cherchez  I'arriere 
pensee  "  will  be  productive  of  information.  The 
possibilities  of  these  places  in  a  war  of  revenge 
are  such  that  Russia  could  not  give  them  up 
without  giving  up  altogether  her  right  to  be 
called  a  naval  Power  ;  and  if  an  essentially  con- 
tinental Power  with  no  actual  sea-board  except 
a  frozen  one  insists  on  the  retention  of  a  half- 
frozen  harbour,  it  is  because  at  all  costs  she 
can  never  give  up  her  legitimate  policy  of  ac- 
quiring an  outlet  for  her  produce,  and  hence 
must  preserve  the  means  of  conquering  one  if 
the  world  refuses  to  give  her  one.  But  all  this 
does  not  make  for  peace,  nor  does  it  allay 
Japanese  anxiety  for  the  future,  nor  does  it  blind 


238  ANTUNG 

them  to  the  possibilities  of  that  future  ;  but  it 
does  raise  in  the  Japanese  mind  the  question 
whether  it  is  quite  safe  to  renounce  advantages 
gained  at  great  cost  with  such  uncertain  prospects 
in  contemplation. 

The  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  requires  the  evacua- 
tion of  Manchuria  by  both  Russians  and  Japanese 
in  April,  1907.  How  far  are  the  Russians  to  re- 
tire, and  what  is  the  country  called  which  reaches 
from  Kharbin  to  Vladivostock  ?  Have  they  to 
give  up  the  railway  from  Lake  Baikal  to  the  sea, 
all  of  which  is  in  Manchuria  ?  And  if  they  do 
not  give  up  the  railway,  why  should  the  Japanese 
give  up  the  banks  of  the  Yalu?^  Neither  Russians 
nor  Japanese  have  any  rights  over  territory  which 
is  properly  Chinese,  but  that  territory  became 
their  battle-ground,  and  in  restoring  to  China 
that  part  of  it  which  the  Japanese  have  captured 
from  the  Russians  the  Japanese  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  dispossess  themselves  altogether  of  such 
points  as  they  consider  may  be  of  extreme  import- 
ance to  them  should  they  be  called  again  to  help 
the  Chinese  against  the  encroachments  of  Russia. 
But  should  they  consider  this  necessary,  will  the 
Russians  acquiesce,  and  should  the  Japanese 
object  to  the  Kharbin-Kirin-Vladivostock  line, 
will  the  Russians  fight?     It  is  not  very  likely  for 

^  An  additional  article  to  Article  III  of  the  treaty  reserves  a  right 
to  the  contracting  Powers  to  maintain  guards  to  "protect  their  respec- 
tive lines  of  railway  in  Manchuria,  the  number  of  these  guards  not  to 
exceed  fifteen  men  per  kilometre."  The  Russian  railway  through  Man- 
churia is  1600  miles,  which  is  equivalent  to  2667  kilometres.  At  fifteen 
men  per  kilometre  this  means  the  right  to  maintain  40,000  men. 


UNSATISFACTORY   TREATY  239 

the  present,  but  all  this  does  not  indicate  a  fair 
settlement  of  peace,  and  it  is  difficult  not  to  sym- 
pathize with  the  Japanese,  who  in  the  hour  of 
their  greatest  triumph  were  baulked,  by  this  treaty 
of  peace,  of  their  just  rewards.  If  beggars  are 
no  choosers,  the  world  well  knows  that  Russia 
was  quite  as  much  a  beggar  at  Portsmouth  as 
Japan  may  have  been,  but  the  victorious  Japanese 
had  some  right  to  expect  that  the  other  beggar 
should  not  be  better  treated  and  get  terms  which 
left  him  power  some  day  of  paying  off  old  scores. 


CHAPTER   X 

PiNIANG — SaOUL — FUSAN — KoREA 

PiNiANG,  13  April. 

THE  pure  crisp  air  of  Southern  Manchuria 
was  such,  that  our  three  hours'  sleep  was 
equivalent  to  double  that  amount  anywhere  else, 
and  completely  rested  us  ;  while  it  must  be 
allowed  that  a  mattress  on  a  floor,  provided  it  be 
a  properly  stuffed  one,  and  a  single  coverlet, 
provided  it  be  thick  enough,  is  really  as  luxurious 
as  the  very  best  French  bed.  Such  at  least  was 
my  experience  last  night,  and  I  only  wish  I 
could  remember  the  name  of  our  jovial  inn  that 
I  might  recommend  it  to  future  travellers. 

The  Colonel's  Adjutant  accompanied  us  to  the 
river  and  saw  us  safely  on  board  a  couple  of 
sampans,  which  promptly  set  sail  and  deposited 
us  on  the  Korean  side  of  the  Yalu  at  a  place  four 
miles  across  the  river,  which  has  not  yet  a  name 
but  from  which  the  trains  start  for  Piniang. 

This  was  our  first  acquaintance  with  the  land  of 
the  ' '  Morning  calm. "  It  is,  I  believe,  a  passive  sort 
of  land  ;  hence,  no  doubt,  its  willingness  to  be 
known  as  Korea — the  equivalent  of  the  Japanese 

240 


A    FOREST    OF    HATS  241 

Korai — when  its  inhabitants  know  it  only  by  quite 
a  different  appellation,  viz.  "Chosen,"  Anglice 
"Fresh  morning."  But  what's  in  a  name?  The 
mornings  may  be  fresh  and  calm  and  the  people 
like  to  call  their  land  by  that  alluring  designation 
— why  should  they  not  ? — but  for  those  who  do 
not  consider  the  people,  but  the  political  advan- 
tages of  the  region  they  inhabit,  Korea  is  the 
only  appellation  permitted.  The  capital  is  vari- 
ously pronounced  Seoul,  Saoul,  Saul,  or  Sowle, 
and  it  is  not  difficult  to  live  happily  with  either 
pronunciation,  because,  as  a  gentleman  informed 
us,  the  real  name  is  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but 
"Hanyang."  In  this  "Fresh  morning"  land 
boys  look  like  girls  with  their  long  hair  falling 
down  their  back,  and  girls  like  boys  with  their 
hair  seemingly  cropped  ;  unmarried  people  are 
reckoned  as  children  and  treated  as  such.  Wear- 
ing mourning  is  equivalent  to  being  dead  ;  and 
how  to  express  grief  is  laid  down  in  official  docu- 
ments, which  tell  when  and  where  tears  should  be 
shed,  moans  and  groans  be  uttered,  and  the 
length  of  time,  never  less  than  two  years,  during 
which  mourning  shall  be  rigidly  enforced.  All  is 
passive  and  calm  but  the  headgear,  and  that  is  an 
obtrusive  reality.  The  population  is  a  forest  of 
hats  ;  and  the  supreme  happiness  of  youth  aiming 
at  man's  estate  is  to  wear  these  extraordinary 
flower-pot-shaped  structures  whenever  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  hair  on  cheek  or  chin  proclaims 
the  time  to  have  arrived  when  the  long  hair  is  to 


242  PINIANG 

be  cut  and  sold  to  the  Chinese  for  pig-tails,  and 
dependence  on  petticoat  government  is  to  cease. 

I  took  great  interest  in  these  wonderful  hats 
made  of  bamboo  thread  varnished  and  lacquered, 
and  thought  a  nation  that  could  attach  so  much 
silly  importance  to  such  an  article  of  apparel 
cannot  be  anything  but  passive,  listless,  and  unam- 
bitious though  it  may  possess  disagreeable  pro- 
pensities such  as  ill-temper,  vexation,  discontent, 
and  petty  revenge,  which  I  understand  it  does. 

In  our  crowded  carriage — Russian  built  and 
truly  an  excellent  model  for  railway  travelling — 
we  had  in  the  corner  set  apart  for  our  party  but 
little  opportunity  of  testing  the  petty  vices  of  the 
Chosenites,  for  they  gave  us  all  the  berth  we 
required  ;  but,  as  human  creatures,  I  certainly 
thought  most  of  them  fine  well-made  men  with 
average  good-looking  faces  and  generally  quiet 
unobtrusive  demeanour. 

The  country  we  traversed  was  decidedly 
picturesque,  and  the  people  wore  a  sort  of 
holiday  look  which  added  to  the  charm  of  the 
picture.  Peasants  all  the  world  over  are  a  privi- 
leged class.  They  have  no  time  for  punctilious 
observation  of  the  rules  of  society  and  hence 
ignore  them  ;  thus  the  peasant  women-folk  do 
not  hide.  This,  to  the  traveller,  is  a  blessing,  for 
otherwise  he  would  have  little  chance  in  countries 
like  this  to  see  any  portion  of  the  female  popula- 
tion, a  mere  look  from  a  stranger  at  a  Chosenite 
female    being   considered    sufficient   for    her    to 


A   MISGIVING  243 

commit  suicide.  So  far,  however,  as  the  peasant 
women  of  Korea  are  concerned,  it  seems  to  me 
that  this  code  is  wisely  ignored  and  would  be 
decidedly  too  rigid  could  it  apply  ;  for  the  sight 
of  the  labouring  ladies  we  perceived  rather  created 
a  feeling  of  unselfishness,  nay  of  self-sacrifice,  so 
anxious  were  we  to  let  them  live  by  never  court- 
ing a  second  look.  I  hasten  to  add  that  my  sight 
is  imperfect. 

When  we  reached  Piniang,  the  old  sacred  city 
of  Korea,  which  is  for  some  undefined  reason 
compared  to  a  boat  —  imagination  runs  riot 
in  the  East — we  were  met  at  the  station  by 
Generals  Ikihara  and  Hayashi  and  some  twenty 
officers  of  their  staff,  and  there  is  no  hiding  the 
fact  that  we  were  somewhat  perplexed  by  this 
great  military  show  of  welcome  on  Korean  soil, 
remembering  that  at  our  landing  some  six  hours 
before,  a  single  corporal  had  been  considered 
enough  to  administer  to  our  requirements  and 
secure  four  places  for  us  in  the  ordinary  train. 
How  was  it  we  had  so  quickly  risen  in  importance  ? 
From  numerous  inquiries  immediately  addressed 
to  me  about  India  by  several  inquisitive  junior 
officers  anxious  to  air  their  knowledge  of 
English,  I  began  to  experience  an  uncomfort- 
able misgiving  that  I  was  being  taken  for  the 
Viceroy  of  that  great  dependency  of  the  British 
Crown,  and  at  once  set  myself  to  work  to  mini- 
mize my  vice-regal  merits,  and  whittle  them  down 
to  those  of  an  ex-Colonial  Governor. 


244  PINIANG 

The  Japanese  one  and  all  are  so  innately  polite 
that  disappointment  does  not  affect  the  manner 
of  their  reception,  and  enlightenment  as  to  the 
true  state  of  things,  if  it  serves  to  modify  the 
exigencies  of  etiquette,  never  affects  hospitality  ; 
an  instance  of  which  we  had  occasion  to  observe 
when  we  left  the  next  day  escorted  by  only  two 
officers  sent  by  the  Generals,  but  bearers  of  a 
series  of  little  boxes  containing  luncheon  pro- 
vided for  us  on  our  further  journey,  which  were 
decidedly  more  useful  than  pure  formality. 

Pin-yang,  pronounced,  I  believe,  Pyong-yang, 
is  a  city — no  less  than  three  thousand  years  old, 
most  admirably  situated  on  the  Taidong  River, 
over  the  charming  banks  of  which  our  rooms  at 
Hotel  Rinko  looked  out,  and  is  made  up  of 
narrow  lanes  ascending  to  an  encircling  wall, 
which  has  witnessed  in  the  course  of  centuries 
many  a  fight  for  its  possession  between  Japanese 
and  Chinese,  the  Koreans  being  most  of  the  time 
passive  resisters  or  spectators,  or  both.  In  the 
evening  we  dined  with  General  Ikihara,  and 
speeches  followed  in  due  course.  In  one  of  them 
a  world  policy  was  sketched,  which  should  be 
commended  to  the  Hague  Tribunal  as  possibly 
ensuring  peace  for  all  time.  '^f,"  said  one 
eloquent  orator,  ''England  and  Japan,  united  in 
friendly  bonds,  have  been  able  to  do  so  much  for 
peace  so  far,  what  would  not  Japan  united  to 
England  through  the  United  States  of  America 
be  able  to  do  for  the  world's  tranquillity  in  the 


KOREAN    HARBOURS  245 

future?"  Frantic  applause  from  our  party  of 
eig-ht  greeted  this  incubation  of  a  new  hemi- 
spherian  doctrine,  and  we  drank  to  the  blessing's 
of  peace  made  lasting-  by  so  comprehensive  an 
alliance,  for  we  felt  that  in  this  possibility  lay  a 
means  of  combating  the  Yellow  Peril  conceived 
by  Russia  or  Germany.  But  it  was  odd  that  it 
should  originate  in  that  very  Korea  which  some- 
how or  another  has  proved  the  bane  of  Russia  at 
all  times,  though  it  has  always  had  for  Russia 
such  undefinable  attraction.  This  perhaps  is  not 
much  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  the  numerous 
excellent  harbours  which  it  possesses — Syong- 
chin.  Port  Lazaref,  Wonsan,  Fusan,  Masanpo, 
Kunsan,  Chemulpo,  Chin-ampo,  and  Wiju.  No 
efforts  were  spared  by  the  Russians  to  secure  one 
or  more  of  these  for  the  use  of  their  fleets. 
Mr.  Pavloff  can  have  no  qualms  of  conscience  in 
this  respect.  He  even  showed  little  respect  for 
himself  in  some  of  his  dealings  to  obtain  this 
end ;  but  all  his  diplomatic  skill  was  thrown  away, 
even  at  the  time  when  he  believed  England  and 
Japan  to  be  completely  hoodwinked  by  his  col- 
league, the  late  M.  de  Lessar,  at  Hong-Kong. 
It  is  now  a  matter  of  history  that  the  treaty  by 
which  Port  Hamilton  was  ceded  to  Russia  by 
England  on  the  understanding  that  Russia  would 
not  acquire  territory  in  Korea  was  accompanied 
by  a  secret  convention  between  China  and  Russia 
to  the  effect  that  the  proviso  in  the  arrangement 
with  England  should  be  for  ten  years  only.     As 


246  PINIANG 

Port  Hamilton  was  evacuated  by  the  British  in 
February,  1887,  it  therefore  suited  Mr.  Pavloff  to 
begin  his  intrigues  for  acquiring  Korean  territory 
in  1896.  In  that  year  he  got  a  merchant  from 
Vladivostock,  a  Mr.  Briinner,  to  obtain  a  conces- 
sion on  the  Yalu  for  twenty  years,  and  this 
concession  ripened  so  quickly  into  a  Russian 
settlement  that  the  Japanese  took  umbrage  at 
once  and  forced  the  Russians  to  show  their  hand. 
The  sequel  is  known.  I  need  not  go  into  the 
matter  again,  but  to  those  who  care  to  read  about 
the  discomfiture  of  human  plans  built  on  the 
sands  of  mean  paltry  intrigue,  I  commend 
Mr.  Pavloff's  doings  in  Korea  as  related  by  Mr. 
Putnam  Weale  in  his  book,  "The  Reshaping  of 
the  Far  East."  If,  however,  it  is  not  possible  to 
contemplate  without  some  contemptuous  pity  the 
doings  of  a  would-be  diplomatist  of  this  stamp, 
fairness  obliges  one  to  proclaim  that  Russia  is 
possessed  of  honourable  men  who  could  not  have 
stooped  to  his  mean  proceedings,  and  that  the 
day  is  bound  to  come,  after  his  present  hour  of 
trial,  when  the  Czar,  strong  in  the  strength  which 
unites  a  ruler  and  his  people,  will  not  require 
agents  of  the  Pavloff  type  to  proclaim  Russian 
wants  and  Russian  wishes. 

If  the  late  war  has  been  a  revelation  in  more 
than  one  respect,  perhaps  the  greatest  wonder 
has  been  the  realization  by  Russia  herself  that  at 
every  turn  of  diplomatic  skill  the  Japanese  have 
proved    their    master ;    not    perhaps   superior    to 


M.    PAVLOFF  247 

those  Russians  in  Russia  that  were  wise  and 
could  not  speak,  or  to  those  who  would  have 
spoken  and  were  prevented,  but  to  Russian 
agents  of  the  Pavloff  and  Alexieff  stamp,  who 
by  clumsy  intrigues  and  culpable  ignorance  of 
what  was  evident,  brought  their  country  to  its 
present  state,  after  previously  discrediting  its 
name  in  the  Far  East. 

In  the  order  of  Providence  the  smallest  things 
sometimes  give  rise  to  the  biggest.  Korea,  with 
all  its  passiveness,  its  listlessness,  its  unimport- 
ance, has  been  the  immediate  cause  of  Russian 
defeats,  and  is  the  starting-point  of  that  great 
change  which,  coming  over  the  East,  is  affecting 
the  West.     Floreat  Korea  ! 


Saoul,   15  April,  1906. 

We  reached  this  capital  at  about  six  last 
night,  and  were  met  by  Mr.  Koruda,  who  is 
an  excellent  French  and  English  scholar,  and 
whose  wife  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  only 
Japanese  lady  who  during  the  war  was  permitted 
to  accompany  Miss  McCall  and  Miss  St.  Aubyn, 
sent  by  our  Queen  to  see  the  working  of  the 
Red  Cross  Society.  Sir  Ian  Hamilton  mentions 
her  presence  at  Kuroki's  head-quarters,  and 
dwells  on  her  having  on  one  occasion  complained 
of  the  apparent  coldness  of  her  English  com- 
panions, exclaiming,  "I  feel  in  my  very  inner- 
most being  we  are  people  apart !  "   I  do  not  quite 


24S  SAOUL 

know  why  the  General  should  attach  importance 
to  this  quasi-hysterical  remark,  as  it  is  one  that 
goes  to  the  root  of  relationship  not  only  between 
the  East  and  ourselves,  but  between  all  people  of 
different  nationalities  who  seek  to  know  each 
other  better,  and  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  What  I 
should  say  is  perhaps  more  astonishing"  is  the 
apparent  incapability  under  which  we  ourselves 
labour  of  recognizing  how  seemingly  deficient 
is  the  British  nature  in  captivating  or  alluring 
quality  !  I  do  not  say  this  unkindly  or  on  account 
of  the  ladies  referred  to,  for  I  do  not  know  them, 
and  I  am  prepared  to  believe  that  they  are  prob- 
ably more  liberally  provided  in  this  respect  than 
others  of  their  kin ;  but  it  is  a  humiliating  though 
an  acknowledged  fact  all  over  the  world,  that  the 
British  are  not  a  sympathetic  race,  and  that  to 
the  yearnings  of  a  foreigner's  heart  the  British 
equivalent,  whatever  it  be  which  takes  the  cor- 
responding place,  is  a  very  mute  substitute. 
Many  of  us  endeavour  to  replace  this  want  of 
sentiment  by  an  exaggerated  display  of  virtue, 
and  only  make  the  foreigner  exclaim  with 
Madame  du  Deffand,  '*Mon  Dieu,  que  vous  me 
faites  hair  tant  de  vertus  !  "  but  when  we  are  en- 
gaged on  any  particular  duty,  then  it  is  that  our 
air  of  superiority  becomes  more  particularly 
offensive,  while  we  ourselves  do  not  realize  the 
fact.  The  General  who  expresses  his  surprise,  as 
mentioned  above,  is  probably  not  aware  how 
"the  whole  scale  of  emotions"  among  his  late 


A    BATH  249 

Japanese  hosts  has  been  stirred  by  the  outpour- 
ing's of  his  own  virtuous  and  interesting  volume. 
But,  it  may  be  asked,  why  should  friendships 
between  Englishmen  and  foreigners  be  more 
necessary  than  among  themselves  ?  We  have 
plenty  of  good  fellowship  for  everybody  ;  let 
that  suffice  :  in  any  case,  we  are  not  likely  to 
give  or  get  more.  This  is,  however,  a  subject 
which  had  better  be  left  to  '*  Marmaduke "  of 
*' Truth."     He  alone  could  do  it  justice. 

Mr.  Koruda  drove  us  to  a  Japanese  hotel  with 
an  impossible  name ;  it  sounded  like  Boyajan 
— but,  as  the  Koreans  have  twelve  vowels,  I  may 
have  left  out  some — where  we  were  very  well  and 
very  obligingly  entertained.  These  semi-European 
hotels  are  neither  fish  nor  fowl,  but  they  are  red 
herrings  ;  they  have  a  cachet  of  their  own.  They 
lack  few  European  requirements,  and  they  give 
very  fair  European  food,  but  they  cannot  instil 
European  ways  into  their  native  personnel.  As 
soon  as  the  bright  little  Japanese  servant  girls 
perceived  my  grey  hair,  they  at  once  settled 
that  I  was  a  breakable  article,  and  resolved 
that  no  breakage  of  my  person  should  take  place 
while  I  was  under  the  roof  of  their  hotel.  The 
result  was  that  during  my  stay  I  was  never  left 
alone,  nor  allowed  to  walk  without  being  sup- 
ported, and  that,  even  on  the  way  to  the  hot 
cauldron,  which  did  duty  for  a  family  bath,  I  was 
accompanied  by  an  archangel  of  a  little  woman, 
who  insisted  on  carrying  sponge  and  towel,  and 


250  SAOUL 

was  sorely  disappointed  at  being  sternly  forbidden 
to  wash  and  scrub  and  dry  my  travelled  person  in 
the  manner  of  infants.  How  truly  admirable,  I 
thought,  is  the  devotion  of  the  Japanese  to  the 
aged !  and  how  surly  was  my  behaviour  in  refus- 
ing to  be  washed  !  Like  Madame  Koruda,  my 
dear  little  attendant  must  have  "felt  in  her  very 
innermost  being  that  we  are  people  apart,"  and 
yet  she  may  rest  assured  that  I  shall  ever  recollect 
her  gentle  ways,  her  fostering  guidance  of  my 
faltering  steps,  and  the  supreme  abnegation  which 
characterized  her  withdrawal  from  the  scene  where 
her  ministering  services  might  have  proved  so 
beneficial.  There  is  no  question  that  we  Britishers 
are  an  unsympathizing  as  well  as  an  unsympa- 
thetic race  ! 

These  hot  Japanese  baths  are  decidedly  a 
luxury.  They  are  always  taken  at  the  end  of 
the  day,  not  in  the  morning,  and  one  cannot 
help  thinking  that,  after  all,  a  bath  at  the  end 
of  much  toil,  fatigue,  and  perhaps  grimy  work  is 
decidedly  more  rational  than  one  in  the  morning. 
In  the  East,  at  all  events,  one  looks  forward  all 
day  to  the  soothing  and  restful  effects  of  the 
before-dinner  dip  into  scalding  water.  It  certainly 
had  its  desired  effects  last  night.,  for  we  were  up 
early  on  this  glorious  Easter  morning  and  ready 
to  face  any  amount  of  sightseeing  and  con- 
sequent fatigue.  Lord  Leitrim  derived  so  much 
strength  from  his  over-night  immersion  that  a 
discrepancy  having  arisen  between  the  local  time 


A   CONGREGATION  251 

and  his  own  watch,  he  got  up  three  hours  too 
soon  for  his  Easter  devotions,  and  went  to  two 
alien  churches  before  he  got  safely  within  the 
pale  of  his  own.  C.  Cranstoun  and  I  went  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  which  stands  on  a  high  emi- 
nence, and  is  served  by  French  missionary  priests. 
The  congregation  was  decidedly  picturesque  and 
singular,  the  men  all  wearing  tall  horse-hair  and 
bamboo  -  thread  hats,  women  white  garments 
with  bright  green  cloaks,  and  children,  like  so 
many  perroquets,  all  dressed  in  green  and  red. 

The  approaches  to  this  cathedral  enable  one 
to  behold  a  perfect  panorama  of  Saoul,  and  a 
panorama  is  always  interesting,  though  variously 
attractive.  The  hills  that  line  the  basin  in  which 
Saoul  is  built  are  so  many  black  crags  with 
numberless  peaks  or  pinnacles,  and  are  rather 
curious  than  pretty,  as  they  seem,  and  I  believe 
are,  denuded  of  all  vegetation. 

Saoul  itself  is  built  within  a  circle  of  some  ten 
miles  in  circumference,  and  is  surrounded  by  a 
crenellated  wall,  with  some  eight  outlets  or  gate- 
ways of  ornate  designs.  The  houses  are  mostly 
built  of  mud,  with  thatched  roofs,  and  there  are 
a  few  buildings  like  the  Gates  of  the  Palace — 
there  is  an  Emperor  of  Korea,  which  one  is  apt 
to  forget  in  Korea — the  residence  of  the  late 
Russian  Minister,  M.  Pavloff,  the  Bell  Tower, 
and  a  few  other  buildings,  which  are  of  stone  ; 
but,  overtopping  all,  are  the  towers  of  this 
French   Catholic    Cathedral,    proclaiming,    as    it 


252  SAOUL 

were,  to  earth  and  sky  the  difficulties  that  had 
to  be  surmounted  before  they  could  reach  this 
rightful  summit,  and  telling  in  eloquent  language 
of  the  magnificent  efforts  of  French  missionaries 
in  the  cause  of  Christianity.  Tall  as  is  this 
cathedral,  there  is  hardly  a  stone  of  it  which 
does  not  recall  a  death  or  martyrdom  before  the 
efforts  of  Western  powers  put  an  end  to  senseless 
Korean  persecutions. 

Nowhere  I  believe  in  the  East  has  the  hatred 
of  "the  religion  of  foreigners"  been  more 
steadily  fostered,  or  have  brutal  persecutions  been 
more  wantonly  ordered,  and  nowhere  in  the  world 
has  the  manner  of  persecution  been  more  dirtily 
carried  out. 

As  late  as  1866  a  French  missionary,  named 
Daveluy,  together  with  two  other  priests,  was 
seized,  flogged,  jeered  at,  and  sentenced  to 
decapitation,  but  they  were  not  to  be  decapi- 
tated all  at  once.  They  should  taste  the  axe  in 
driblets,  and  the  executioner  therefore  "after 
delivering  one  blow  left  his  victims  with  the 
blood  spouting  out  of  the  wounds  to  bargain 
with  the  official  present  as  to  the  sum  due  to 
him  for  this  more  than  usually  refined  mode  of 
execution  before  severing  completely  the  heads 
from  the  bodies."  Truly  mankind  can  surpass 
the  beastliest  of  the  animal  kingdom  !  Let  us 
hope  charitably  that  under  the  protection  of 
Japan,  Korea  will  at  least  rise  from  the  status  of 
the  beast  to  the  estate  of  man  !     Unfortunately, 


MARQUIS    ITO  253 

Korea  is  not  fond  of  Japan.  The  weak  are 
not  generally  admirers  of  the  strong,  and  the 
strong"  are  not  always  very  patient  with  the  weak. 
Still,  in  the  enlightened  Marquis  Ito,  Japan's 
greatest  living  statesman  and  at  present  Resident 
of  Japan  at  Saoul,  there  is  hope  that  matters  will 
improve  ;  that  courts  of  law  and  appeal  courts 
and  police  tribunals  and  all  the  machinery  for 
administering  equitably  the  affairs  of  Koreans 
will  soon  be  in  working  order  ;  but  when  he  has 
done  all  that  he  contemplates  I  fear  the  Marquis 
will  find  the  gratitude  of  this  inferior  race  to 
be  very  much  like  that  of  the  Egyptian  Fellah, 
and  likely  to  show  itself  in  attempts  to  murder 
benefactors  or  innocent  officers  because  they  are 
not  Koreans. 

We  were  most  kindly  received  by  His  Excel- 
lency, who  spoke  freely  of  his  visit  to  Europe 
just  before  the  late  war  and  of  his  fruitless  efforts 
to  stay  a  war  likely  to  cost  his  country  so  much 
life  and  money  ;  and  on  the  subject  of  Korea  he 
assured  us  that,  "as  it  was  under  Japanese  pro- 
tection and  he  was  the  protector  for  the  time 
being,  he  could  not  do  better  than  take  Lord 
Cromer  for  his  model  and  imitate  him  in  all 
things."  From  the  Residence  we  called  and  saw 
His  Excellency  Marshal  Hassegawa,  a  splendid 
type  of  soldier,  who  might  belong  to  any  Western 
nation  so  far  as  physical  appearance  goes,  but 
typical  of  his  own  Japan  in  the  broad  chin,  the 
strong  features,    and  the   marked   will   and  pur- 


254  FUSAN 

pose  delineated  on  his  countenance.  He  com- 
manded the  Guards  Division  in  Manchuria  under 
Kuroki,  and  seems  somewhat  to  chafe  under  his 
present  comparative  inactivity.  He  was  anxious 
to  know  how  we  had  fared  in  Manchuria,  and 
was  surprised  to  hear  we  had  had  such  a  com- 
fortable time.  ** Thank  winter  for  that,"  he  said; 
*'as  for  me,  I  saw  far  more  dreaded  enemies  than 
the  Russians  while  I  was  in  that  country."  That 
reminds  me  of  Mr.  Angus  Hamilton's  book  on 
Korea,  in  which,  in  respect  to  vermin,  he  gives 
the  palm  to  the  Hermit  Land — a  proof  that  even 
Korea  can  be  supreme  on  one  point.  One  should 
always  be  fair,  and  I  am,  which  is  saying  a 
great  deal,  for  I  do  not  like  decay. 


FusAN,   1 6  April. 

Kind  Mr.  Koruda,  resplendent  in  a  riding  cos- 
tume which  our  interpreter,  the  worthy  Iziki, 
greatly  admired  and  envied,  saw  us  off  at  an 
early  hour,  and  even  accompanied  us  a  short 
distance  on  our  way  to  Fusan.  The  train  we 
travelled  by  is  excellently  appointed  ;  and,  in 
truth,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  travel  more 
comfortably  in  Europe  or  in  America.  We  took 
ten  hours  to  perform  290  miles,  inclusive  of  stops 
— and  these  were  numerous — running  a  south- 
east course  through  not  very  interesting  but 
mountainous  country,  with  occasional  plains  that 
seemed  to  be  cultivated  ;  crossing  many  rivers, 


JAPANESE    AND   KOREANS  255 

and  noticing  scant  vegetation  beyond  pines  and 
coarse  grass.  The  time  of  the  year  must,  how- 
ever, account  for  this,  for  in  reahty  Southern 
Korea,  through  which  this  railway  passes,  is 
known  as  the  granary  of  the  Hermit  Land,  and 
as  such  is  much  appreciated  by  the  Japanese 
agriculturists,  who  are  flocking  in  large  numbers 
to  this  region.  The  railway  itself  belongs  to 
Japanese  investors,  and,  when  it  was  being  built, 
men  working  on  the  line  were  given  a  plot  of 
land  sufficient  to  build  a  house  for  their  families 
and  form  a  settlement.  It  was  a  very  industrious 
preliminary  invasion,  and  formed,  without  doubt, 
part  of  that  preparation  for  war  which  became 
after  the  events  of  1895  the  sole  preoccupation 
of  the  Japanese  nation. 

In  point  of  fact,  at  the  present  time  Korea  is 
only  Korea  in  name ;  and  Marquis  Ito,  when 
cleverly  telling  us  he  took  Lord  Cromer  for  his 
model,  did  not  add  that  he  had  a  far  less  difficult 
task  to  fulfil,  inasmuch  as  the  actual  annexation 
of  Korea  to  Japan  remains  an  open  question  only 
so  long  as  Japan  elects  it  to  be  so  ;  and  he  pos- 
sesses already  on  Korean  soil  a  Japanese  popula- 
tion and  soldiery  sufficiently  large  and  powerful 
to  settle  matters  for  themselves,  should  any  differ- 
ences with  the  natives  arise. 

That  the  Japanese  look  down  on  the  Koreans 
is  very  evident,  for  wherever  they  settle  they  elect 
a  quarter  for  themselves,  though  this  is  perhaps 
but  natural.     They  instinctively  dislike  the  soiled 


256  FUSAN 

white  dresses  and  the  rude  manners  of  the  Korean 
men,  the  degraded  status  of  Korean  women,  the 
dirty  habits  of  both,  and  their  squalid  homes. 

Fusan  itself  is  a  proof  of  this.  There  are  two 
distinct  towns  in  Fusan — one  Korean,  and  the 
other  Japanese;  and  the  contrast  is  such  that  one 
wonders  why  the  Japanese  have  not  burnt  down 
the  dirty  old  Korean  stronghold  of  vermin  and 
filth,  if  only  to  justify  the  Korean  claim  to  be 
called  a  *'  Fresh  Morning  "  land. 

What  is  surprising  is  that  for  such  an  unattrac- 
tive people  the  Koreans  should  have  attracted 
so  much  notice.  An  American  gentleman,  Mr. 
William  Elliot  Griffis,  has  written  a  book  on 
Korea  which  is  founded  on  his  perusal  of  over  a 
hundred  works,  all  of  which  he  mentions;  and  as 
he  dedicates  it  to  ''Korean  Patriots,"  I  suppose 
the  list  of  works  corresponds  to  the  number  of 
patriotic  Koreans  he  has  discovered  ;  but  neither 
Mr.  Griffis  nor  Mr.  Angus  Hamilton — whose 
volume  is  full  of  interesting  personal  experiences, 
and  hence  contains  less  fanciful  pictures  —  is 
able  to  show  that  the  Koreans  possess  any  quali- 
ties likely  at  any  time  to  raise  them  in  the  scale 
of  nations,  either  by  rebellion  against  their 
rulers  or  by  a  protest  against  Fortune's  decrees. 
The  miserable  potentate  they  possess  does  not 
rouse  their  indignation,  and  his  sordid  concu- 
bines have  not  moved  their  anger.  It  may  be 
very  well  to  be  passive,  but  passiveness  screens 
crime  and  condones  it.     I  understand  that  Chris- 


•♦LOW"   AND    "VILE"  257 

tianity  is  making  some  progress,  as  toleration 
has  become  the  rule,  not  the  exception;  but  what 
is  one  to  expect  of  a  people  whose  best  apologists 
declare  that  '*the  selfishness  of  the  privileged 
classes,  the  lack  of  public  spirit  among  the  nobles, 
the  moral  weakness  and  political  incompetence  of 
the  Koreans  and  the  reactionary  spirit  and  ultra- 
conservative  outlook  of  the  Saoul  Court  and 
Government"  are  the  stumbling-blocks  despite 
which  they  have  hopes  for  the  country  ?  Are 
these  hopes  founded  on  the  people's  industry  or 
character?  There  are  nobles  and  a  king,  under 
whom  there  are  three  social  grades :  in  the  lowest 
grade  are  the  merchant,  the  boatman,  the  jailer, 
the  postboy,  the  monk,  the  builder,  and  the 
sorcerer.  These  are  styled  "low";  all  the  rest 
being  slaves  are  denominated  "vile."  What 
incentive  is  there  to  any  in  the  "vile"  class  to 
rise  to  the  "low"  class?  and  what  other  country 
is  there  where  the  word  "low"  indicates  superi- 
ority? As  to  women,  their  case  is  hopeless. 
What  chance  is  there  for  a  country  where  a 
woman  cannot  be  seen  in  public  before  eight 
o'clock  at  night  ?  In  Saoul  the  curfew  sounds  at 
8  p.m.,  and  then  "all  Korean  men  must  lie 
indoors,  while  women  are  free  to  ramble  abroad 
until  I  a.m."  It  is  really  to  be  hoped  that  the 
sight  of  the  busy,  active,  intelligent,  bright, 
cheery  little  Japanese  women,  who  go  out  at 
8  a.m.,  will  stir  the  spirit  of  the  Korean  woman, 
and  induce  her  to  seek  in  her  own  country  for 


258  FUSAN 

that  position  of  consequence  which,  as  a  mother, 
nature  has  decreed  she  should  possess,  in  com- 
mon with  all  female  creatures  in  creation. 

Then,  and  only  then,  will  there  be  any  hope 
for  Korea  to  rise  a  little  beyond  Thibet,  that 
other  Hermit  Land,  where  people  are  slaves  of 
their  passions  and  of  each  other  ;  where  washing 
one's  person  is  the  desecration  of  dirt,  and  where 
ignorance  is  perfect  bliss. 

One  reads  of  patriots  moved  by  the  state  of 
their  country  to  a  spirit  of  reform.  Let  Korean 
patriots,  if  there  are  any,  begin  by  enfranchising 
and  honouring  the  mothers,  sisters,  and  wives  of 
their  race,  and  the  rest  will  soon  come.  It  would 
not  be  a  bad  plan  either  to  knock  down  the  ridicu- 
lous cult  of  the  hat.  It  was  quite  a  relief  to  see 
it  no  more  when  we  embarked  in  a  well-appointed 
steamer  of  the  Sanyo  Railway  line  on  our  return 
to  Japan. 


CHAPTER    XI 


TOYO-URA 

Yamajushi 

Myajima 

fukuyama 

Okayama 

Atsuta 

Maisaka 

Mio-no-Matsubara 

FuGi  San 

Tokyo 

Yokohama 


Sanyo  rathvay. 
Christian  centre. 
Sacred  place. 
Rushes. 

Japanese  garden. 
Tokaido. 
Lagoon. 
Feather  robe. 
Volcanic  mount. 
Cherry  blossom  party. 
Japanese  'woman. 


Kobe,  17  April. 

WE  left  Shimonoseki  at  9.30  this  morning-, 
and  travelled  by  rail  (the  Sanyo  line)  to 
Kobe,  doing  the  distance  of  330  miles  in  eleven 
hours,  passing  no  less  than  seventy-seven  stations, 
and  skirting  for  most  of  the  time  the  beautiful 
inland  sea  ;  catching,  as  we  went  along,  lovely 
peeps  of  its  blue  waters,  islands,  headlands,  bays, 
and  creeks,  with  all  the  accompaniment  of  boats 
and  fishermen  and  sails.  We  also  passed  places 
of  historical  or  legendary  interest  in  which  one 
would  have  wished  to  have  had  time  to  tarry. 

At  Toyo-ura,  which  is  only  a  suburb  of  Shi- 
monoseki, there  is  said  to  be  the  tomb  of  an 
incredulous  Mikado,   Chu-ai  Tenno,   who  in  the 

259 


26o  KOBE 

second  century  of  our  era  was  punished  for  not 
heeding  the  dreams  of  his  Empress.  He  was 
not  bound  to  obey  her,  but  he  used  bad  language. 
Jingo  Kogo  C  Jingo "  means  divine  prowess), 
while  her  Emperor  was  idling  his  time  with  a 
lute,  had  a  revelation  that  to  the  westward  there 
existed  a  beautiful  land  "dazzling  with  gold  and 
silver  :  the  land  of  Korea,  which  the  Mikado  was 
divinely  commanded  to  add  to  his  dominions." 
Chu-ai  Tenno  dropped  the  lute,  went  straight  to 
the  top  of  the  highest  summit  in  his  neighbour- 
hood, looked  out  to  the  west,  and,  seeing  no  land, 
turned  to  his  wife  and  said,  "There  is  no  land  ; 
your  deities  are  lying  deities,"  whereupon  he 
promptly  sickened  and  died,  leaving  the  "divine 
prowess "  to  accomplish  what  he  himself  had 
declined  to  do.  This  Empress  "Jingo"  is 
credited  with  the  conquest  of  Korea,  and  with 
living  to  the  age  of  one  hundred.  She  does  not, 
however,  appear  to  have  inspired  much  con- 
fidence in  those  who  have  busied  themselves  the 
most  with  her  personality.  As  just  recorded,  her 
husband  did  not  believe  in  her  inspirations,  and 
now  Mr.  Aston,  the  author  of  "A  History  of 
Japanese  Literature  "  and  a  most  erudite  Japanese 
scholar,  considers  everything  a  myth  which 
relates  to  this  Amazon  sovereign. 

I  would  have  liked  to  see  the  tomb  of  a 
man  who,  descendant  of  the  Sun  Goddess,  and 
sitting  on  the  throne  by  right  of  that  descent, 
refused   to   believe   what  he   could    not   see   for 


OLD   CHRISTIAN    CENTRE  261 

himself.  He  certainly  had  the  courage  of  his 
opinions,  which  is  something  in  his  favour,  but 
I  fear  also  the  obstinacy  of  ignorance — a  defect 
which  he  shared,  however,  with  many  of  his 
station,  and  below  it,  whether  in  his  day  or  since. 
This  Chu-ai  Tenno  was  very  human. 

At  Ogori  we  were  close  to  Yamaguchi,  ''  which 
was  an  important  Christian  centre  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  mission  there 
having  been  founded  by  S.  Francis  Xavier 
himself." 

Sir  Ernest  Satow,  our  late  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary at  Peking,  who,  with  Mr.  Aston,  is 
considered  by  the  Japanese  as  one  of  the  most 
learned  scholars  in  their  language  and  history, 
has  written  a  paper  on  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
Church  at  Yamaguchi,  from  1550  to  1586,  in  the 
''Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan." 
Mr.  Murdoch,  as  I  believe,  on  the  strength  of 
this  paper,  has  endeavoured  to  show  in  his 
history  of  Japan  that  if  the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits 
failed  it  was  because  they  apparently  were  not 
in  harmony — well,  with  Mr.  Murdoch's  own  view 
of  how  they  should  have  proceeded.  The  Rev. 
Herbert  Thurston,  s.j.,  has  courteously  but 
forcibly  taken  the  historian  to  task  in  a  series 
of  articles  published  in  "The  Month,"  and  the 
whole  controversy  constitutes  very  interesting 
reading. 

I  may  not  be  called  upon  to  join  issue  with 
one  or  other  of  the  combatants  on  this  historical 


262  KOBE 

arena,  but  I  would  point  out  that,  when  Mr. 
Murdoch  starts  from  the  principle  that  Buddhism 
and  Christianity  appear  but  as  ''two  elaborately 
organized  rival  systems  of  kindred  superstition," 
he  begs  the  question  of  the  good  either  religion 
has  been  responsible  for  in  the  world's  history, 
let  alone  Japan,  and  hence  appears  to  be  a  very 
untrustworthy  authority  on  the  subject  of  mission- 
aries— men  who  have  sacrificed  their  lives  solely 
to  spread  what  he  loosely  denominates  a  super- 
stition —  and  on  this  ground  can  scarcely  be 
deemed  a  guide  as  to  their  modes  of  proceeding. 
There  may  be  some  truth,  however,  in  the 
rivalry  of  the  two  creeds  being  at  the  root  of  the 
prohibition  of  all  Christian  teaching  in  the  days 
of  Hideyoshi,  who  himself  at  one  time  had  much 
favoured  Christianity.  According  to  Mr.  Mur- 
doch, the  success  of  Christian  missionaries  was 
such  that  ''at  Yamaguchi  we  hear  of  Xavier 
confounding  bonzes  over  and  over  again.  From 
the  converts  he  made  he  ascertained  the  weak 
points  of  the  various  sects,  and  devoted  much 
effort  to  equipping  these  neophytes  with  argu- 
ments to  employ  against  their  former  pastors 
and  teachers.  The  town  was  soon  a  scene  of 
confusion.  The  Buddhist  monks  might  very 
well  be  forgiven  for  evincing  no  great  amount 
of  pleasure  at  this  turn  of  affairs."  As  head  of 
the  Government,  Hideyoshi  was  bound  to  stand 
up  for  his  own  people  against  the  foreigner  if  he 
could.     leyasu,    who   usurped   power  after  him, 


MIYAJIMA  263 

suspected  ambitious  designs  under  the  cloak  of 
proselytism,  and  lemitsu  closed  trade  and  all 
relation  with  the  foreigner.  I  fear  the  whole 
truth  lies  in  too  much  elation  on  the  part  of  the 
Christian  missionaries  after  the  successes  of 
S.  Francis  Xavier  at  Yamaguchi,  which  roused 
the  national  jealousy  and  created  suspicion  of 
ulterior  designs. 

We  were  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  stop  at  Miya- 
jima,  which  is  one  of  the  San-kei  or  three 
principal  sights  of  Japan,  and  a  sacred  island 
besides.  Here,  no  dogs  are  allowed  ;  here,  if  a 
birth  unexpectedly  takes  place  it  is  still  the  cruel 
custom  to  send  the  woman  away  to  the  mainland 
for  thirty  days  ;  and  here,  should  any  one  die, 
the  corpse  is  at  once  sent  to  the  village  of 
Ono  for  interment.  To  Ono  likewise  the  chief 
mourners  are  exiled  for  fifty  days  to  undergo 
ceremonial  purification.  These  are  but  a  fraction 
of  the  attractions  of  Miyajima.  The  torii  of  its 
temple  stand  in  the  sea;  the  great  hall  or  council 
room,  built  by  Hideyoshi  out  of  the  wood  of  a 
single  camphor  tree,  is  plastered  over  with  ladles 
(used  for  serving  rice)  up  to  the  very  ceiling,  and 
is  called  the  Sen-jo-jiki,  or  Hall  of  a  Thousand 
Mats  ;  a  gallery  hung  with  ex-votos  is  648  feet 
long,  and  here  did  Kobo  Daishi  (774-834),  the 
most  famous  of  all  Japanese  Buddhist  saints, 
light  the  sacred  fire  which  is  not  even  now  allowed 
to  be  extinguished.  Why  did  we  not  stop  at 
Miyajima? 


264  KOBE 

The  mention  of  dog's  brings  to  mind  the  fact 
that  Japan  is  perhaps  the  only  country  in  the 
world  where  this  natural  companion  of  man  is 
not  appreciated.  The  delicate  little  pug  dogs, 
whose  habit  of  sneezing  is  due  to  their  noses 
being  pressed  in  with  the  finger  at  their  birth  so 
as  to  make  them  snub — a  case  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Dumb  Animals — are  not  considered  to  be 
dogs  as  we  would  suppose  them,  for  they  are 
classified  by  themselves.  The  Japanese  talk  of 
''inu  ya  chin"  dogs  and  pugs.  Still,  pugs  are 
as  dumb  as  dogs,  and  the  following  reason  why 
dogs  cannot  speak,  given  by  the  Ainos  inhabit- 
ants of  the  northern  isle  of  Yezo,  must  have 
included  pugs  : — 

"  Formerly  dogs  could  speak.  Now  they  can- 
not. The  reason  is  that  a  dog  belonging  to  a 
certain  man,  a  long  time  ago,  inveigled  his 
master  into  the  forest  under  the  pretext  of  show- 
ing him  game,  and  there  caused  him  to  be  de- 
voured by  a  bear.  Then  the  dog  went  home  and 
told  his  master's  widow  that  when  her  husband 
was  dying  he  commanded  him,  the  dog,  to  tell 
her  to  marry  him,  in  his  stead.  The  widow  knew 
that  he  was  lying,  and  in  her  grief  and  rage 
threw  a  handful  of  dust  into  the  dog's  open 
mouth.  This  made  him  unable  to  speak  any 
more,  and  therefore  it  is  that  no  dogs  can  speak 
even  to  this  very  day."  No  wonder  lying  and 
immoral  dogs  are  not  allowed  at  Miyajima. 


CRANES  265 

Our  train  stopped  successively  at  Fukuyama, 
where  whole  fields  are  planted  with  the  rushes 
that  throughout  Japan  are  used  for  the  upper 
covering  of  the  ordinary  house  mats,  and  at 
Okayama,  where  there  is  a  celebrated  Japanese 
garden  known  as  Koraku-en,  which,  besides  all 
that  constitutes  a  Japanese  garden,  namely, 
bridges,  hills,  lakes,  and  trees  (but  no  flowers), 
there  are  two  cranes,  ^'one  of  which  is  believed 
to  be  over  two  hundred  years  old."  I  understand 
that  cranes  and  herons  have  deserted  the  land, 
which  is  a  great  pity,  for  Japanese  scenery  seems 
made  for  these  long-legged  birds,  and  their 
solemn  attitudes  suit  the  native  seriousness.  Too 
many  birds  have  become  extinct,  or  practically 
so,  both  in  England  and  Japan,  which  points  to 
destructive  temperaments  susceptible  of  amend- 
ment on  both  sides. 

As  I  was  still  wondering  why  in  Japanese  art 
the  crane  holds  such  a  place,  and  apparently  in 
Japanese  mythology  no  place  at  all ;  why  it  never 
has  anywhere  that  I  know  of  been  dedicated  to 
some  deity  or  been  credited  with  some  sacred 
mission,  and  was  gently  succumbing  to  a  needed 
slumber,  our  train  reached  Kobe  and  we  once 
more  proceeded  to  the  Oriental  Hotel,  of  which 
an  annex  was  burnt  down  a  few  weeks  since.  A 
French  lady  told  us  that  her  maid,  who  was  in  the 
building  at  the  time,  could  easily  have  saved  both 
the  trunks  left  in  her  charge  while  her  mistress 
was  absent  at   Miyajima,   as  the  flames  did   not 


266  TOKYO 

reach  her  apartment  for  long  after  the  first 
appearance  of  fire,  but  that  the  Japanese  house- 
hold seemed  dazed  and  paralysed,  no  one  offer- 
ing to  give  a  helping  hand.  Was  this  the  result 
of  fatalism,  of  indifference,  or  of  want  of  sym- 
pathy with  misfortune  when  it  is  a  foreigner  who 
suffers  ?  I  hope  not ;  but  our  informant,  who  is 
an  ardent  admirer  of  the  Japanese,  was  surprised. 
So  were  we. 

Tokyo,  i8  April. 

We  resumed  our  journey  at  8  a.m.  so  as  to 
reach  Tokyo  at  9  p.m.,  and  were  favoured  with 
beautiful  spring  weather.  This  time  we  travelled 
over  378  miles  and  passed  eighty-six  stations.  I 
do  not  know  on  what  system,  whether  at  home, 
in  Europe,  or  in  Japan,  a  station  is  erected,  but 
it  seems  to  me  that  163  stations  in  708  miles,  or 
one  station  for  every  four  miles,  is  rather  extrava- 
gant, as  stations  are  expensive  items,  the  wages 
of  the  personnel  not  always  being  guaranteed  by 
the  number  of  travellers  or  the  amount  of  goods 
for  conveyance.  The  Japanese  Government, 
however,  know  best,  and  a  Bill  is  before  the 
Chambers  to  enable  the  Government  to  acquire 
all  railways  not  already  in  their  possession,  which 
is  evident  proof  that  I  know  little  of  the  merits  of 
many  stations. 

The  neighbourhood  of  Kyoto  had  thrown  off 
its  winter  mantle  of  white  and  all  the  hills  were 
clad  in  green.      Lake  Biwa  looked  as  inviting  as 


IMPERIAL    REGALIA  267 

our  Cumberland  lakes  on  rare  beautiful  days,  and 
all  the  neighbourhood  of  Nagoya  was  promising 
wealth  to  the  tillers  of  its  fertile  soil. 

When  we  reached  Atsuta,  on  the  shore  of  the 
Pacific  and  close  to  Nagoya,  we  were  in  the  land 
centre  of  Japanese  mythology.  In  the  temples 
of  this  hamlet  the  famous  sword  Kusa-nagi  no 
Isurugi  is  kept  which,  with  the  mirror  and  a 
jewel,  constitute  the  Imperial  regalia.  For  those 
who  like  to  know  how  this  sword  became  sacred, 
it  may  be  interesting  to  hear  that  having  been 
found  by  the  god  Susa-no-o  (which  means  the 
impetuous  male)  *'  in  the  tail  of  an  eight- 
headed  serpent  which  he  first  intoxicated  with 
'sake'"  and  then  slew;  it  was  brought  to  earth 
some  centuries  later  by  Jimmu  Tenno,  the  first 
ancestor  of  the  Mikados,  to  assist  him  and  his 
successors  in  the  conquest  of  Eastern  Japan. 
The  mirror,  so  religiously  and  carefully  kept  in 
the  Naiku  or  inner  temple  at  Yamada,  is  the  one 
which  enticed  Ama-terasu  to  come  out  of  her 
cave.  The  legend  recalls  how  her  brother,  the 
** impetuous  male,"  having  quarrelled  with  her, 
broke  a  hole  in  the  roof  of  heaven  and  through 
it  let  fall  a  piebald  horse  which  he  had  flayed. 
This  so  incensed  the  Sun  Goddess  Ama-terasu 
that  she  withdrew  into  a  cave,  and  for  a  whole 
season  the  efforts  of  "eight  hundred  myriad 
deities  "  were  ineffectual  in  inducing  her  to  come 
out.  Somebody  at  this  juncture  happily  thought 
of  a  mirror,  which  attracted  the  curiosity  of  the 


268  TOKYO 

goddess,  then  charmed  her  as  she  beheld  her  own 
likeness,  and  finally  calmed  her  wrath,  when  she 
consented  to  leave  her  cave.  Neither  sword  nor 
mirror  is  ever  shown,  any  more  than  we,  in 
the  West,  have  been  privileged  to  see  anything 
that  ever  belonged  to  Adam  or  Eve  or  Noah  ; 
yet  these  two  Imperial  relics  are  instructive  of 
events  which  must  have  stirred  the  whole  created 
world  at  a  far  remote  age,  as  the  sword  is  but  an 
emblem  of  judgment,  and  the  sun  receding  into 
a  cave  that  of  an  eclipse.  Many  superstitious 
and  ignorant  people  in  the  West  up  to  this  day 
fear  an  eclipse  as  a  judgment.  It  is  curious  too 
how,  in  the  annals  of  all  countries,  the  Deluge  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  referred  to.  I  came  across 
a  reference  to  it  in  Yucatan  in  a  translated  Cate- 
chism in  the  Indian  dialect  used  by  Indians  in 
the  times  of  Montezuma,  and  I  wonder  whether 
the  length  of  time  Ama-terasu  spent  in  a  cave  is 
not  another  allusion  to  the  Deluge,  and  the  mirror 
a  symbol  of  the  dove  and  the  olive  branch  ? 

It  is  too  big  a  subject  for  mere  fugitive  notes, 
but  how  interesting  would  be  a  collection  of 
analogies  between  the  traditions  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  legends  and  myths  of  countries 
that  have  not  known  our  sacred  books,  or  of 
those  that  might  have  heard  of  them  ! 

At  Maisaka  we  crossed  a  big  lagoon  on  dykes 
and  bridges  and  altered  our  direction  to  the 
north,  from  which  time  the  scenery  increased  in 
beauty  and  variety  on  either  side.     At  Okitsu  we 


"ROBE   OF    FEATHERS"  269 

had  a  delightful  view  of  the  Bay  of  Suruga  and 
of  pine-clad  hills,  at  the  foot  of  which  is  the 
village  Mio-no-Matsubara.  It  deserves  a  men- 
tion because  at  that  place  was  laid  the  scene  of 
the  *'Robe  of  Feathers,"  which  is  a  charming 
and  deservedly  favourite  Japanese  lyric  drama. 
A  little  fairy  hangs  her  feather  robe  on  the  trees 
near  the  shore,  so  as  to  rest  and  enjoy  the  scenery. 
A  fisherman  perceives  it  and  possesses  himself 
of  it,  as  *'  he  wishes  to  show  it  to  the  old  folks  at 
home  that  it  may  be  handed  down  in  our  house 
as  an  heirloom."  The  fairy  plaintively  pleads  to 
have  it  back  :  '^Without  my  robe  nevermore  can 
I  return  to  my  celestial  home.  I  beseech  thee, 
sir,  give  it  back  to  me."  The  fisherman  is  ob- 
durate, and  the  frail  fay  sinks  helpless  on  the 
ground.  At  the  sight,  pity  fills  the  fisherman's 
heart,  and  he  tells  her  she  can  have  her  feathers, 
whereupon  her  joy  is  such  that  to  reward  him  the 
fairy  dances  the  dance  that  "makes  the  palace 
of  the  moon  turn  round." 

C horns :  Thus  "  this  the  spot  and  this  the  day  " 
To  which  our  Eastern  dancers  trace 
All  their  frolic,  art,  and  grace. 

From  Okitsu  to  Iwabuchi  the  scenery  is  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful,  and  the  railway  passes 
between  the  sea  and  high  hills  ;  then  all  of  a 
sudden  Fugi  appears  in  all  its  magnificence — 
solemn,  grand,  imposing,  almost  w^eird  in  its 
splendour  as  the  setting  sun  is  throwing  a  handful 
of  gold  upon  its  snowy  peak  and  lighting  up  its 


270  TOKYO 

sides  with  blue  and  purple  tints.  For  twenty-six 
miles  Fugi  San  was  within  sight,  and  we  seemed 
to  be  travelling  round  its  base,  never  once  taking 
our  eyes  off  the  glorious  sights  which  it  presented. 

Hokusai,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  painted  a 
hundred  views  of  Fugi,  and  they  are  reputed  to 
be  his  masterpieces.  Had  he  seen  it  on  a  balmy 
evening  of  spring,  such  as  that  we  enjoyed  this 
afternoon,  I  think  the  painter  would  have  been 
justified  in  a  thousand  views,  certain  as  I  am 
that  each  would  have  presented  a  different  aspect. 
Fugi  is  nature's  tribute  of  glory  to  the  land 
of  the  Rising  Sun.  It  is  itself  one  of  the  most 
easterly  mountains  in  the  world,  and  the  first 
object  that  greets  the  eye  as  travellers  approach 
Japan  from  the  West.  It  is  12,300  feet  in  height, 
and  can  be  seen  108  miles  off  at  sea. 

There  are  many  beautiful  places  and  things  in 
this  world  of  ours  !  Taken  all  in  all,  perhaps  no 
country  on  the  globe  can  beat  in  charm  and 
beauty  and  variety  our  own  'Hight  little  island," 
but  in  majesty,  in  grandeur,  in  impressiveness, 
nothing  that  I  have  seen  comes  up  to  Fugi  San, 
rising  proudly  to  a  towering  height  from  the 
middle  of  fertile  plains,  bearing  winter  snows  as 
an  eternal  crown,  and  its  sides  clothed  with  forest 
pines. 

Rio,  Corinth,  Naples  are  not  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  same  breath.  It  is  nature's  answer  to 
man's  Taj  at  Agra,  and  it  is  the  acme  of  what  is 
strikingly  beautiful.     Nor  is  it  to   be  wondered 


FUGI    SAN  271 

that  the  Japanese  have  for  Fugiyama  a  respect 
and  a  love  almost  mixed  with  awe,  for  it  is  also 
a  volcano  which  may  become  active  at  any  time, 
and  which  lies  in  the  same  degrees  of  parallel  as 
Vesuvius  and  San  Francisco. 

After  Fugi  there  was  nothing  more  that  we 
wished  to  see.  It  was  a  fit  ending  to  our 
delightful  trip,  a  novel  joy  in  a  course  of  much 
enjoyment. 

Tokyo,  19  April. 

The  Imperial  Hotel  was  invaded  by  a  crowd 
of  American  cousins  when  we  arrived  last  night, 
and  no  amount  of  eloquence  could  extract  a 
room  out  of  the  amiable  manager.  At  a  late 
hour,  therefore,  we  had  to  proceed  to  the  Tokyo 
Hotel,  which,  if  it  be  not  as  sumptuous  or  as 
European  as  the  ''  Imperial, "  occupies  a  decidedly 
finer  site  on  a  terrace  which  reminds  one  of  the 
Pincio  in  Rome,  and  commands  a  very  extensive 
view  of  the  whole  town,  as  well  as  much  exertion 
in  reaching  its  elevated  precincts. 

I  have  elsewhere  referred  to  much  courtesy 
shown  us  in  this  city.  I  would  like  in  these 
notes  to  record  our  sense  of  His  Majesty's 
Ambassador's  great  kindness  in  exerting  him- 
self on  our  behalf  in  the  matter  of  obtaining 
permission  for  us  to  visit  Port  Arthur  and 
Manchuria,  and  through  His  Excellency,  to 
tender  once  more  the  expression  of  our  gratitude 
to  the  Japanese  Government  for  giving  us  the 


272  TOKYO 

requisite  permits,  as  well  as  for  treating  us  almost 
as  their  guests  during  this  expedition. 

Our  pleasant  stay  in  the  Far  East  is  fast 
approaching  its  end,  and  we  realize  how  inade- 
quate has  been  the  time  at  our  command  to  learn 
all  we  want  to  know  in  this  fascinating  land. 

Japanese  civility  has  been  unfailing,  and  I  only 
wish  I  were  gifted  with  the  talent  necessary  to 
describe,  for  instance,  graphically  the  sumptuous 
lunch  offered  to  us  by  Mr.  Okura,  his  priceless 
museum  of  Japanese  art,  both  old  and  new,  and 
the  excellent  commercial  school  of  which  he  is 
the  patron  and  founder,  which  adjoins  his  own 
fine  mansion,  and  of  which  we  were  made  honorary 
pupils  ;  or  to  convey  an  adequate  impression  of 
our  visit  to  Count  Okuma,  and  of  the  conserva- 
tory where  dwell  the  flowers  he  so  dearly  loves, 
as  well  as  of  the  charm  of  his  manner  and 
conversation.  It  is  perhaps  fortunate  that  I 
cannot  do  either,  *'a  quelque  chose  malheur  est 
bon,"  for  I  might  make  invidious  distinctions  by 
unwittingly  leaving  out  the  names  of  many  kind 
hosts  and  hostesses  while  only  mentioning  some, 
and  besides,  having  no  authority  to  quote  any- 
body in  particular,  as  I  never  asked  for  any,  I 
might  easily  be  guilty  of  indiscretion  towards 
distinguished  people  whom  it  was  our  privilege 
to  meet  and  converse  with,  if  I  noted  down  as  I 
would  like  some  of  their  interesting  conversation. 

Eximia  est  virtus  praestare  silentia  rebus. 
I  agree  with  Ovid. 


COUNT    IWASAKI  273 

But  I  must  say  a  word  respecting  Count 
Iwasaki's  garden,  which  revealed  to  me  for  the 
first  time  the  great  artistic  possibiHties  of  big 
boulders  and  huge  slabs  in  the  absence  of  flowers, 
and  of  himself  as  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Japan  in 
her  competition  with  Western  modes  of  business. 
I  was  introduced  to  the  Count  by  Mr.  Kirby,  an 
Englishman,  who  has  had  a  long  acquaintance 
with  Japan,  speaks  its  language  like  a  native, 
and  who  has  imbibed  all  the  gentleness  and  kind- 
ness of  the  Japanese  nature,  in  addition  to  his 
own.  We  can  never  forget  how  he  went  out  of 
his  way  to  show  us  all  the  civility  in  his  power, 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  valuable  time. 

Count  Iwasaki  has  the  head  and  manner  of  a 
prosperous  English  or  American  business  man. 
He  is  president  of  many  important  concerns, 
and  is  the  founder  of  the  Mitsubishi  Mail  Steam- 
ship Company,  which  having  amalgamated  with 
the  Kyodo  Un-yu  Kwaisha,  is  now  known  every- 
where as  the  powerful  Japan  Mail  Steamship 
Company,  or  Nippon  Yusen  Kwaisha.  He  owns 
docks  at  Nagasaki,  and  is  styled  the  Millionaire 
Count.  I  do  not  know  many  millionaires,  but  if 
they  are  all  as  natural,  amiable,  and  intelligent 
as  Count  Iwasaki,  I  think  their  acquaintance 
decidedly  desirable.  "  C'est  un  homme  qui  vous 
donne  le  gout  de  la  chose." 

Except  on  Saturdays  when,  European  fashion, 
he  withdraws  to  the  country  to  spend  the  week- 
end  with   his    family   and    intimate   friends,    the 


274  TOKYO 

Count  is  at  his  office  every  day  and  is  an  inde- 
fatigable worker.  To  men  like  him  or  Mr. 
Shibusawa  or  Mr.  Okura,  men  of  enterprise  and 
intellig-ence,  modern  Japan  may  still  owe  the 
preservation  of  her  old  families  through  the 
wealth  they  will  be  instrumental  in  bringing  into 
the  country. 

Count  Iwasaki's  garden  which  we  visited  is,  I 
understand,  a  model  Japanese  garden  with  lake, 
islands,  connecting  bridges,  forests,  creepers, 
cherry  trees  for  spring,  maples  for  autumn,  plum 
trees  for  winter,  and  paths  of  big  slabs  leading  to 
a  gem  of  a  summer-house,  where  the  exquisite 
wood  panels,  the  spotless  mats  and  the  neat 
arrangements  for  tea  ceremonies  contrast  almost 
painfully  with  the  Frankfort-on-Main  kind  of 
villa  for  European  guests  through  which  one  is 
first  admitted.  It  is  a  Daedalus  of  daintiness. 
There  are  no  straight  lines  and  no  stiff  designs, 
and  involuntarily  one  contrasts  these  flowerless 
landscape  gardens  with  the  productions  of  Le 
Notre  at  Versailles  and  Trianon,  or  in  England 
at  Greenwich,  St.  James's  Park,  Wrest  Park,  or 
Chatsworth,  and  the  balance  is  in  favour  of  the 
Japanese.  But  I  wonder  whether  the  Japanese 
really  object  to  flowers ;  because  there  were 
places  in  this  garden  where  colour  was  decidedly 
wanting,  and  a  bank,  say  of  primroses,  would 
have  been  a  gorgeous  platform  for  the  cherry 
trees  above.  They  are  known  not  to  like 
camellias  because  the  falling  off  whole  of  its  red 


DWARFED   TREES  275 

blossoms  '* reminds  them  of  decapitated  heads." 
I  suppose  they  would  therefore  object  to  azaleas 
in  the  open,  but  they  have  so  many  beautiful 
other  flowers  and  orchids  to  take  their  place, 
that,  unless  there  is  some  reason  which  is  not  yet 
explained,  I  cannot  excuse  the  absence  of  flowers 
in  a  bower  of  verdure.  They  were  made  for  one 
another ;  they  enhance  each  other,  and  no  sever- 
ance can  take  place  without  creating  regret.  I 
know  it  is  said  that  the  Japanese  landscape 
gardener  wants  to  produce  a  park  and  not  a 
garden,  but  if  they  could  see  Hyde  Park  in  May 
they  would  acknowledge  that  the  flowers  are  the 
glory  of  that  park,  and  indeed  of  any  out-of- 
door  recreation  ground.  Why  leave  them  out  ? 
Then,  again — but  here  it  is  purely  a  question  of 
taste — why  treat  trees  as  in  the  Middle  Ages 
children  were  treated  whose  destiny  was  to 
become  the  fools  of  royal  or  other  high  person- 
ages ?  These  dwarfed  trees  of  Japan  are  the 
one  thing  I  could  not  admire.  They  are  all 
slaves  to  the  gardener's  notion  of  perspective  ; 
and  if  gardens  are  supposed  "to  symbolize  ab- 
stract ideas  such  as  peace  and  chastity,"  why 
war  with  nature  and  tamper  with  its  ornaments  ? 
The  Japanese  have  a  passion  for  reducing  things 
to  a  minimum.  We  ate  whole  gardens  at  Mr. 
Okura's  :  at  least,  the  dishes  set  before  us  repre- 
sented whole  landscape  gardens,  and  as  I  suc- 
cessively, though  not  very  successfully,  caught  up 
a  mountain  or  a  cryptomeria,  a  lotus  or  a  maple 


276  TOKYO 

leaf  with  my  chop-sticks,  and  was  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  use  a  fork  or  a  spoon  as  a  better  lever, 
I  felt  that  these  microscopic  imitations  which 
were  giving  me  trouble  were  an  index  to  the 
vexation  endured  by  a  horticulturist  left  entirely 
in  the  hands  and  at  the  mercy  of  a  faddist. 

What  really  is  very  striking  is  the  capital  that 
can  be  made  out  of  stones,  and  the  great  power 
of  stone  arrangement  in  building  up  quite  a 
pretty  landscape.  The  ambition  of  everybody  in 
Japan  is  naturally  to  get  big  boulders  and  large 
slabs,  but  these  are  very  expensive  and  only  at 
the  command  of  the  more  fortunate ;  but  I 
could  not  help  thinking  how  in  England  we 
might  very  much  increase  the  attraction  of  our 
parks  by  a  freer  use  of  stone  as  an  ornament. 
The  stone  lanterns  in  the  gardens  of  a  temple  are 
in  themselves  often  works  of  art.  The  avenue 
of  lanterns  at  Nara  is  one  of  the  sights  of  Japan. 
But  then  we  would  have  to  institute  a  school  of 
taste  ;  for  anything  more  depressing  than  the  use 
to  which  we  put  our  splendid  granite  stones  in 
the  North  of  England  and  in  Scotland  is  only  to 
be  surpassed  by  a  casual  look  at  our  present 
stone  carvers,  who,  assembling  generally  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  a  cemetery,  scare  the  living, 
anxious  to  honour  their  dead,  by  the  hideous- 
ness  of  the  memorials  they  offer  for  sale.  Vide 
specially  the  approaches  to  Kensal  Green. 


i 

i 


IMPERIAL  GARDEN    PARTY  277 

Tokyo,  20  April. 

Thanks  to  our  gracious  Ambassadress,  who 
considered  it  a  pity  were  we  to  miss  a  cherry- 
blossom  party  given  by  their  Imperial  Majesties, 
we  were  two  out  of  the  five  hundred  invited 
guests  of  "  Meiji  Tenno,"  the  Heavenly  Em- 
peror, likewise  known  as  "Tenshi,"  or  Son  of 
Heaven,  and  "  Shujo,"  the  Supreme  Master  in  his 
own  country,  but  principally  as  Mikado  every- 
where else.  Mikado  stands  for  *'Mika,"  great, 
and  *'To"  a  place,  and  few  will  gainsay  that 
His  Majesty  occupies  a  great  place  not  only  in 
his  own  Empire,  but  in  the  estimation  of  the 
world,  and  that  the  world,  on  that  account,  is 
justified  in  calling  him  Mikado  even  if  his  sub- 
jects do  not. 

The  party  is  fixed  by  their  Majesties  on  a  day 
in  April  which  best  suits  public  convenience, 
and  takes  place  sometimes  when  the  cherry 
blossoms  have  all  disappeared.  There  were  very 
few  trees  in  blossom  on  this  occasion  as  the 
season  was  somewhat  advanced,  but  the  party 
was  at  all  events  an  interesting  one.  The  day 
itself  was  fine,  which  is  essential  to  an  out-of- 
door  entertainment,  and  the  Hama-ki-jui  Park, 
a  private  domain  of  the  Emperor,  is  very  charm- 
ingly situated  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Tokyo, 
with  views  here  and  there  of  the  city  at  its 
gates,  which  give  life  and  animation  to  an 
open   space  of  greensward.      I    cannot   call   it  a 


278  TOKYO 

beautiful  park.  Though  larger,  it  was  inferior  to 
many  gardens,  private  and  public,  which  we  had 
previously  seen.  It  was  not  so  striking  as  the 
garden  of  Count  Iwasaki,  and  I  do  not  recollect 
seeing  beautiful  boulders  or  lanterns,  though  the 
islands  and  lakes  and  bridges  and  mounds  were 
all  there.  The  Court  people,  the  Japanese 
nobility  of  high  rank,  and  the  diplomatic  corps 
who  had  the  "private  entree,"  assembled  at  a 
given  spot  near  the  lake  to  await  the  Emperor 
and  Empress,  while  the  other  guests  were  told 
off  to  a  remoter  corner  of  the  grounds  from 
which  they  could  watch  the  procession  being 
formed  before  subsequently  beholding  it  more 
closely.  It  is  a  point  of  etiquette  not  generally 
known  that  the  Emperor  must  never  be  looked 
down  on,  and  hence  that  any  guest  desirous  of 
seeing  him  must  endeavour  to  do  so  on  a  level  or 
below  the  walk  he  is  actually  treading.  Un- 
fortunately, the  formation  of  the  grounds  does  not 
permit  of  these  rules  of  etiquette  being  strictly 
observed,  and  I  fear  most  of  us  must,  quite  un- 
intentionally, have  disregarded  them,  as,  on  the 
approach  of  their  Majesties,  we,  Japanese  as 
well  as  foreigners,  hurried  to  points  of  vantage  ; 
in  other  words,  to  mounds  and  hillocks  from 
which  a  good  view  could  be  obtained.  The  pro- 
cession was  not  a  solemn  one,  but  it  was  not 
wanting  in  pathos.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the 
procession  bore  rather  the  character  of  a  conces- 
sion to  Western  notions  than  that  of  a  wish  to 


PROCESSION  279 

impart  to  the  Sovereign's  progress  all  the  im- 
pressiveness  and  brilliancy  which  obtains  in 
Europe. 

The  Emperor  himself  walked  fast,  and  his 
somewhat  bent  figure  told  of  his  ceaseless  pre- 
occupations for  the  welfare  of  his  people.  The 
Empress,  in  European  dress,  walked  singly  be- 
hind him.  By  all  accounts  she  is  an  angel  of 
goodness  and  the  model  of  a  Japanese  lady  of 
high  attainments  and  noble  aspirations.  I  re- 
member another  such  royal  procession  in  Vienna; 
and  all  who  beheld  it  can  never  forget  the 
magnificently  regal  bearing  of  the  Empress 
Elizabeth  of  Austria,  as  walking  by  the  side  of 
the  Emperor  Franz  Joseph  on  the  occasion  of 
their  silver  wedding,  she  electrified  the  Court  by 
the  dignity  of  her  beautiful  presence.  May  the 
Japanese  sovereigns  never  know  the  sorrows  of 
the  noble  House  of  Hapsburg ! 

In  my  remarks  on  Port  Arthur  I  have  related 
how  we  were  struck  by  the  toast  of  Admiral 
Misu  in  honour  of  the  2666th  accession  anni- 
versary of  the  Emperor ;  and,  in  truth,  the 
Mikado's  family  does  stand  forth  as  the  oldest  in 
the  world,  which  is  peculiarly  striking  if  we 
reflect  upon  the  usually  brief  life  of  Oriental 
dynasties.  This  fact  alone  made  us  a  little  sorry 
that  the  progress  of  the  imperial  procession  was 
not  slower.  Especially  did  we  regret  not  seeing 
properly  the  countenance  of  the  benevolent 
Consort    of    this    great     King,     "  I'lmperatrice 


28o  TOKYO 

Printemps "  of  Pierre  Loti,  whose  Red  Cross 
Hospital  at  Shibuya,  a  suburb  of  Tokyo,  which 
vies  in  completeness  with  any  European  institu- 
tion of  the  kind,  we  had  visited  that  morning. 
She  too,  if  it  can  be  so  called,  has  suffered  in  the 
national  cause,  for  she  has  borne  the  introduction 
of  a  Salic  Law  with  complete  resignation.  Her 
Majesty  altogether  abstains  from  any  interference 
in  politics.  Perhaps  she  has  never  had  any 
ambition  or  desire  to  mix  herself  up  with  them. 
Another  noble  and  great-hearted  lady,  the  late 
Empress  Augusta  of  Germany,  once  began  to 
speak  to  me,  in  my  then  official  and  diplomatic 
capacity,  of  the  grief  she  experienced  at  the 
quarrel  which  had  arisen  between  the  German 
Chancellor  and  Bishop  Ketteler,  of  Mayence, 
relative  to  the  Alt  Katholisch  movement,  but  im- 
mediately checked  herself,  exclaiming  in  French : 
'' J'oubliais  !  le  Prince  Bismarck  ne  me  permet 
pas  la  politique.  II  a  dit  a  I'Empereur  qu'il 
donnerait  sa  demission  s'il  apprenait  que  je  m'en 
suis  melee."  ^  On  the  whole  it  is  best  so:  ladies, 
whatever  their  rank,  seem  to  lose  their  feminine 
charms  once  they  meddle  with  politics,  and, 
strange  to  add,  nothing  conduces  so  quickly  to 
downright  ugliness.  I  wish  lady  politicians  would 
bear  this  in  mind. 

^  As  I  write,  I  have  seen  in  "  Ueber  Land  und  Meer"  some  passages 
from  Prince  Hohenlohe's  Memoirs  in  which  the  rupture  of  the  present 
Emperor  of  Germany  and  Prince  Bismarck  is  attributed  to  the  Prince's 
rudeness.  "  He  was  very  near  throwing  the  inkpot  at  my  head^"  was 
the  Emperor's  remark. 


DRESS  281 

The  tea  arrangements  somehow  were  appar- 
ently interfered  with  by  the  procession's  too  rapid 
arrival  at  the  tea  tent,  and  we  had  to  leave  the 
garden  party  without  partaking  of  their  Majesties' 
hospitality,  owing  to  our  having  to  catch  a  train ; 
but  this  was  a  very  insignificant  drawback  to  an 
interesting  afternoon,  during  which  we  came, 
however,  to  one  decided  conclusion,  and  that  is, 
that  European  dress  is  not  becoming  to  Japanese 
ladies.  May  I  express  the  earnest  hope  that 
the  lovely  Japanese  kimonos  and  obis  worn  so 
coquettishly  by  that  extra  fascinating  race,  the 
women  of  Japan,  may  never  be  given  up,  and 
appeal  to  Her  Imperial  Majesty  to  keep  it 
going  !  Though  I  altogether  decline  to  contrast 
the  European  and  Japanese  ladies  at  this  party, 
I  do  venture  to  express  the  ''honourable  fear" 
that  where  the  Japanese  ladies  adopted  European 
dress  they  withdrew  from  competition  in  all  that 
makes  for  feminine  ambition,  and  gave  their 
Western  sisters  too  easy  a  victory :  for  if  I  might 
parody  a  French  verse — 

A  tous  les  coeurs  bien  nes  que  la  patrie  est  ch^re! 
I  would  say — 

A  la  femme  bien  prise  ah !  que  la  robe  est  ch^re. 

Yokohama,  21  April. 

We  reached  Yokohama  last  night,  and  became 
the  guests  for  one  night  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hawkins, 
to  whose  kind  hospitality  we  owe  much  gratitude. 


282  YOKOHAMA 

and  heard  on  arrival  very  disquieting  news  of  an 
earthquake  at  San  Francisco,  whither  we  pro- 
ceed to-morrow. 

Mr.  Hawkins,  who  is  one  of  the  managers  of 
the  Hong-Kong  and  Shanghai  Bank,  has  a 
dehghtful  house  on  the  Bluff,  with  a  model 
Japanese  garden  into  which  one  steps  from  the 
drawing-room.  It  is  one  of  those  multum.  in 
parvo  conceptions  which  delight  the  eye  and 
rest  it  so  long  as  the  absence  of  flowers  is  not 
noticed.  Here,  in  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  we  found 
bridges,  hillocks,  dales,  little  ravines,  dwarf 
plants  ad  libitum,,  maple  and  cherry  trees, 
deodara  pines  from  Simla,  and  a  couple  of  cryp- 
tomerias.  The  value  of  the  whole  is  great :  but 
why  am  I  not  educated  to  the  necessary  standard 
so  as  to  admire,  as  I  should,  these  pigmy  master- 
pieces of  horticultural  fancy  ? 

Admiral  Togo  had  two  little  dwarf  trees  in  his 
cabin  on  the  **Mikasa,"  which  had  been  pre- 
sented to  him  by  Count  Okuma,  and  were  valued 
at  ;^5oo.  I  fear  they  went  down  with  his  ship 
when  she  was  accidentally  blown  up  in  harbour, 
but  I  only  fear  it  because  of  the  grief  it  would 
cause  that  truly  distinguished  sailor. 

There  is  a  tiny  thing  in  Japan  which  interests 
me  much  more  than  dwarf  trees  and  plants,  for 
I  suspect  the  greatness  of  Japan  springs  from 
that  little  well  of  attraction — the  Japanese  woman. 
It  is,  I  believe,  a  fact  that  the  intelligence,  the 
cleverness,  the  genius  of  man,  is  derived  from  the 


JAPANESE   WOMEN  283 

mother  and  not  from  the  father.  In  England 
we  have,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  but  one  instance 
of  father  and  son  being  equally  celebrated.  Pitt 
was  as  great,  if  not  a  greater  statesman  than 
Lord  Chatham  ;  but  the  reason  why  in  Great 
Britain  we  do  not  possess  more  examples  of  the 
kind  is  not  far  to  seek.  Making  every  allow- 
ance for  exceptions,  a  clever  Englishman,  as  a 
rule,  monopolizes  the  attention  of  his  family 
to  such  an  extent,  that  the  children  are  handi- 
capped by  their  father's  superiority ;  but  in 
Japan,  where  everybody  has  a  fair  chance,  the 
nation  benefits  by  the  community  of  intellect. 
At  any  rate,  the  little  Japanese  mother  is  all 
to  her  bairns,  as  her  training  is  such  that,  how- 
ever proud  she  may  be  of  her  husband,  she 
cannot  monopolize  his  attention,  and  devotes 
her  bright  intelligence  to  developing  the  brains 
of  her  children. 

The  training  of  Japanese  women  is  so  severe 
that  one  marvels  at  their  having  any  speck  of 
brightness  left,  and  yet  they  are  as  a  race  in- 
finitely more  cheerful  than  other  women  with 
greater  liberty  and  power  of  independent  action. 
They  are  from  their  birth  to  their  death  bound  to 
what  is  known  as  the  three  obediences — obedi- 
ence to  the  father  while  unmarried,  obedience  to 
a  husband  and  that  husband's  parents  when 
married,  and  obedience  to  her  son  when  a 
widow.  According  to  Onna  Daigaku,  the 
Japanese  moralist,  the  only  qualities  that  benefit 


284  YOKOHAMA 

a  woman  are  ''gentle  obedience,  chastity,  mercy, 
and  quietness."  She  is  *'even  at  the  peril  of  her 
life  to  harden  her  heart  like  rock  or  metal,  and 
observe  the  rules  of  propriety."  She  must  "never 
find  fault  with  her  husband  however  humble  and 
needy  his  position."  When  a  girl  "she  must 
practise  filial  piety  towards  her  parents,  but  after 
marriage  her  chief  duty  is  to  honour  her  parents 
in  law,  to  honour  them  beyond  her  own  parents, 
but  she  should  look  on  her  husband  as  if  he  were 
Heaven  itself."  She  must  never  "even  dream  of 
jealousy  or  set  herself  up  against  her  husband 
with  harsh  features  and  a  boisterous  voice."  She 
must  be  "circumspect  and  sparing  in  her  use  of 
words,  and  however  many  servants  she  may  have 
in  her  employ  never  shirk  the  trouble  of  attend- 
ing to  everything  herself.  She  must  sew  her 
father-in-law's  and  mother-in-law's  garments  and 
make  ready  their  food."  Finally,  "as  silliness  is, 
with  indocility,  discontent,  and  jealousy,  one  of 
the  worst  maladies  that  can  afflict  the  female 
mind,  she  must  wholly  distrust  herself  and  obey 
her  husband." 

This  last  advice  is  possibly  the  least  difficult  to 
attend  to,  inasmuch  as  attention  to  it  for  a  while 
generally  ends  by  the  husband  "distrusting" 
himself  and  "obeying"  his  wife,  all  of  which  I 
understand  is  the  supreme  aim  of  married  woman- 
kind. 

The  above  counsels,  however,  are  sufficiently 
onerous  to  scare  most  Western  ladies  ;  but  if  they 


NATIONAL   CHARACTER  285 

have  produced  the  kind,  gentle,  faithful,  pretty 
little  being  with  graceful  manners  and  soft  voice, 
and  especially  with  simple,  natural  ways,  bright 
laughter,  and  sparks  of  intelligence  like  rays 
direct  from  the  sun,  which  all  admire  as  the 
woman  of  Japan — one  who  for  all  her  *' sweet 
gentleness  "  is  known  to  possess  a  Spartan  heart 
and  a  spirit  of  abnegation,  self-sacrifice,  and 
devotion  to  duty  second  to  none — is  there  not 
enough  for  us  to  realize  her  power  for  good  in 
the  development  of  a  nation's  strength  ? 

Nor  is  this  an  individual  opinion.  European 
ladies  go  into  ecstasies  over  their  Japanese 
sisters.     Could  compliment  be  greater  ? 

Gifford  Palgrave,  who  was  eight  weeks  in  Japan, 
told  Mr.  B.  H.  Chamberlain  that  ''eight  weeks' 
residence  was  the  precise  time  qualifying  an 
intelligent  man  to  write  about  Japan  ;  a  briefer 
period  was  sure  to  produce  superficiality,  while  a 
longer  time  would  induce  a  wrong  mental  focus." 

We  have  been  eight  weeks  all  but  three  days 
in  Japan,  and  hence  appear  to  come  under  the  late 
Mr.  Palgrave's  dictum,  always  admitting  pro 
forma  that  we  are  not  presuming  too  much  in 
believing  ourselves  intelligent,  and  claim  there- 
fore the  right  which  he  gives  to  the  eight  weeks' 
residents  of  not  being  "superficial  observers"  or 
possessed  of  *'a  wrong  mental  focus." 

Any  one  who  has  done  me  the  honour  of 
perusing  these  pages  will  perceive  that  I  have 
been  careful,   up  to  this  point,   not  to  express  a 


286  YOKOHAMA 

personal  appreciation  of  the  Japanese  character, 
I  have  only  studied  it  as  I  went  along,  together 
with  the  history  of  Japan,  which  has  left  its 
impress  upon  the  national  bearing,  not  omitting 
the  legends  which  must  continue  to  exercise 
their  influence  upon  the  national  life  of  the 
people.  But  the  great  question  ever  before  me 
was  always  the  stability  of  those  physical  and 
mental  qualities  which  have  so  astonished  the 
world. 

Every  writer  taking  the  male  Japanese  as  his 
starting-point  has  at  once  rushed  to  the  teaching 
of  chivalry  in  the  days  of  old  Japan — that  is, 
more  correctly  speaking,  to  the  influence  of 
Bushido.  This  word,  which  in  the  beginning 
literally  meant  "military  knight  ways,"  became  in 
time  synonymous  with  a  school  of  ethics  directed 
to  the  education  of  a  class,  the  fighting  nobles 
or  Samurai.  The  position  of  woman  in  those 
days  was  so  effaced  that  she  was  not  taken  into 
account,  but  those  days  are  in  truth  past  and  for 
ever  gone.  The  teaching  of  Bushido  has  become 
the  moral  education  not  of  a  class,  but  of  the 
whole  nation,  and  its  precepts  are  now  instilled 
into  the  child  not  by  knights,  but  by  the  mother, 
in  whose  heart  they  are  preserved  with  religious 
veneration,  and  hence  it  is  to  that  mother  that 
we  must  look  for  an  answer  to  the  interesting 
query. 

I  have  said  enough  in  these  notes  to  indicate 
at  least  my  conjecture  that  with  daughters  and 


THE    FUTURE  287 

wives  and  mothers  like  the  Japanese  there  is 
no  fear  of  Bushido  dying-  out,  or  Western 
influences  acting  detrimentally  upon  the  nation 
generally,  and  therefore  no  apprehension  of 
immediate  change.  Reaping  as  the  Japanese 
are  doing  in  Western  schools  of  science  and 
philosophy,  it  may  be  they  will  gather  tares  with 
the  wheat,  but  their  bright  intelligent  women  will 
know  how  to  separate  the  one  from  the  other, 
and  I  honestly  believe  that  the  twentieth  century 
belongs  to  Japan,  just  as  the  nineteenth  belonged 
to  England,  its  ally. 

There  is  one  fear,  however,  I  do  entertain. 
Will  the  Japanese  as  a  nation  ever  be  popular? 
Probably  not  much  more  than  we  are  ourselves, 
for  they  have  too  many  points  in  common  with 
us ;  but  will  they  continue  to  obtain  Western 
appreciation  ?     I  have  my  misgivings. 

They  seem  too  anxious  to  shine  in  every  walk 
of  life,  not  to  excite  some  jealousy,  and  rather  too 
prone  to  dismiss  the  master  before  the  knowledge 
is  perfectly  acquired.  It  looks  as  if  little  by  little 
all  foreign  teachers  will  be  asked  to  retire.  Naval 
and  military  instructors  have  come  and  gone, 
lawyers  and  doctors  and  financiers  have  come 
and  are  going;  even  missionaries,  if  not  Japanese, 
may  not  be  altogether  acceptable,  and  at  present 
it  all  looks  as  if  Japan  had  opened  its  doors  to 
Western  knowledge  and  not  to  Western  inter- 
course. The  days  of  lyeyatsu  are  clearly  not 
forgotten,   nor  quite  over. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Pacific  Ocean — Honolulu— San  Francisco — Chicago — 
Niagara — New  York 

At  Sea,  Pacific  Ocean,  25  April. 

WE  embarked  on  the  good  ship  ''Coptic,"  of 
the  Pacific  Mail  Company,  Captain  Smith, 
on  Saturday  last,  after  lunching  at  the  Yokohama 
Club.  There  we  met  Captain  Boyle,  who  so 
successfully  conveyed  to  Japan  from  Genoa 
the  two  Japanese  warships  ''Nisshin"  and 
''Kasuga, "  which  passed  the  Russian  squadron 
commanded  by  Admiral  Vizenius,  and  were  so 
coveted  by  him  immediately  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  The  captain  is  much  at  home  in 
Japan.  We  also  endeavoured  to  get  news  as  to 
the  disaster  at  San  Francisco,  but  up  to  the 
moment  of  departure  we  could  not  obtain  very 
reliable  information,  though  the  telegrams  re- 
ceived via  Europe  were  alarming  and  gruesome. 
They  told  of  a  general  conflagration  following 
on  a  disastrous  earthquake,  and  of  wholesale 
destruction  to  life  and  property,  with  prospects 
of  absolute  extinction,  as  the  fire  was  still  raging. 
As  most  of  the  officers  of  the  ship  had  their 

2S8 


HARD   SAXON    RACE  289 

families  in  San  Francisco,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  passengers  were  similarly  situated,  our 
start  was  not  effected  in  a  comforting  mood, 
and  every  face  denoted  the  anxiety  which  was 
being  so  bravely  borne.  Many  of  them  are 
outwardly  cheerful  and  hopeful,  but  cannot  hide 
the  apprehensions  with  which  they  are  beset,  and 
which  can  only  be  dissipated  or  allayed  on  our 
reaching  Honolulu  nine  days  hence.  Suspense 
is  a  wearisome  evil.  One  aged  gentleman  and 
his  plucky  wife  who,  one  would  think,  have 
earned  a  rest  after  a  whole  life's  toil  and  labour, 
expect  to  find  that  they  are  totally  ruined,  and 
courageously  talk  of  beginning  all  over  again. 
One  young  officer  expects  to  be  deprived  of 
both  father  and  mother  ;  another  a  widower  ;  a 
third  to  have  lost  all  his  children ;  a  fourth  all 
his  patients,  and  so  on  ;  but  these  dire  appre- 
hensions do  not  check  the  ordinary  course  of  life 
on  board,  and  only  set  forth  in  bright  characters 
the  simple  fact  that  if  the  struggle  of  life  is  a 
hard  one,  the  Saxon  blood  can  still  produce 
hard  men  and  hard  women  to  cope  with  that 
struggle. 

Meanwhile  the  captain  is  urging  his  vessel  on, 
and  the  gallant  craft  is  responding  to  the  call. 
The  log  declares  the  sea  to  be  smooth,  which 
is  in  favour  of  our  object,  and  I  for  one  do  not 
complain  of  the  designation  ;  but  not  many  ladies 
have  put  in  an  appearance,  which  indicates 
some  difference  of  opinion   between  the  female 


u 


290  HONOLULU 

passengers  and  the  log.  I  have  noticed  that  at 
sea  the  logs  of  ships  generally  indicate  "fair" 
when  there  is  not  a  ripple  on  the  water ; 
"smooth  "  when  it  is  rough;  and  "rough  "  when 
all  hope  of  salvation  is  practically  gone.  There 
are  no  nautical  in-betweens. 


Honolulu,  30  April. 

At  noon  on  Thursday,  the  26th,  we  were  in 
longitude  174.52,  and  by  noon  on  the  next  day, 
which  happened  to  be  once  more  Thursday, 
26  April,  we  were  in  longitude  178.39.  But  at 
7  p.m.  we  crossed  the  i8oth  degree  of  longitude 
east ;  an  important  event,  as  it  marked  our  run 
across  half  the  world.  Having  deprived  our- 
selves all  this  time  of  four  minutes  per  hour^  in 
our  advance  eastwards,  and  intending  to  con- 
tinue this  losing  game  until  we  reach  the  Green- 
wich meridian  once  more,  a  full  day  was  given 
us  as  compensation  for  our  loss  of  minutes,  thus 
making  up  for  what  is  called  the  difference 
between  sidereal  and  ordinary  clock  time.  It 
is  all  very  simple,  but  I  never  knew  simplicity 
to  be  so  complex  or  so  confusing.  Perhaps  my 
diary  not  being  sidereally  arranged  added  to  my 
embarrassment.     Despite  our  extra  day  on   the 

^  By  "four  minutes  per  hour"  I  do  not  refer  to  the  mileage,  but  to 
the  gain  which  sidereal  time  obtains  on  solar  time,  and  which  scientific- 
ally is  3'  56"  5'"  per  hour,  making  a  whole  twenty-four  hours  in  360  days 
or  a  journey  round  the  world. 


PERPETUAL   SPRING  291 

ocean,  however,  we  reached  this  pretty  island, 
the  beauties  of  which  I  think  a  little  overrated, 
in  excellent  calendar  time,  viz.  on  Monday, 
30  April,  as  we  were  expected  to  do,  after  an 
equally  excellent  passage  across  the  deserted 
ocean  so  well  called  the  ''  Lone  Pacific,"  for  not 
a  single  ship  did  we  see  from  Yokohama  here. 
The  hilltops  in  Honolulu  were  not,  and  I  believe 
never  are,  snowy,  yet  one  could  repeat  with  the 
poet  that — 

All  sparkling  fresh  and  fanned  by  sweetest  air, 
Spring  half-way  up  the  snowy  hilltops  stood  : 

Waved  her  glad  hand  and  wakened  everywhere 
A  prescient  joy  in  some  approaching  good  ; 

for  these  lines  from  "  Glenaveril "  came  naturally 
to  mind  as  soon  as  we  felt  the  balmy  air  and 
received  telegrams  which  reassured  our  ship- 
mates, and  freed  them  of  anxiety  as  to  the  fate 
of  their  nearest  and  dearest  in  San  Francisco. 

On  going  ashore  I  was  not  sorry  to  find  that 
my  long -lost  trunk  was  demurely  resting  in 
imposing  solitude  at  the  Customs,  and  did  not 
stop  to  inquire  how  it  got  there.  As  we  pro- 
ceeded, we  also  found — 

April,  with  a  face  as  bland 

And  bright  as  May,  the  lord  of  all  the  land. 

The  climate  of  this  island  is  one  long  spring, 
and  spring  is  indeed  'Mord  of  all  the  land." 
This  at  once  constitutes  Honolulu's  charm  and 
beauty  ;    but  the   principal   attraction,    so  far  as 


292  HONOLULU 

native  ways  and  manners  and  customs  are  con- 
cerned, is  gone  for  evermore.  It  is  not  a 
Hawaiian  centre,  but  an  American  city ;  very 
clean,  well  laid  out,  with  excellent  hotels, 
hospitals,  library,  and  other  buildings,  and  in 
which  guttural  English  has  replaced  the  soft 
vowel  language  of  the  Hawaiians.  The  Queen 
is  in  exile,  or  at  Washington  begging  for  money, 
which  comes  to  the  same  thing,  and  the  place 
is  overrun  by  rival  clergymen,  who  between  them 
have  contrived  to  wipe  out  all  the  simplicity,  the 
gentleness,  and  the  naturalness  of  the  natives, 
and  to  make  them  a  doubtful  kind  of  Christian 
people  more  pagan  at  heart  than  they  ever  were 
before :  so  I  am  told,  and  so  I  well  believe. 

In  a  population  of  40,000,  there  are  not  more 
than  10,000  Hawaiians  and  no  less  than  fifteen 
churches.  But  the  island  is  undoubtedly  flourish- 
ing, if  the  comforts  of  modern  civilization  are 
taken  into  account.  There  are  two  theatres,  five 
banks,  any  number  of  philanthropic  societies, 
and  an  asylum  for  the  insane. 

What  ensures  the  prosperity  of  the  island  is 
naturally  the  small  harbour,  which  is  an  im- 
portant port  of  call  for  steamers  from  Japan, 
Vancouver,  or  Australia,  and,  I  should  add,  the 
passionate  desire  to  throw  away  money  on  trifles 
which  seizes  every  traveller  who  has  been  a  fort- 
night at  sea.  I  know  a  man  who  bought  cough 
lozenges  to  serve  a  lifetime,  not  fancying  any- 
thing else,  and  simply  to  spend  a  sovereign. 


PALI  293 

A  drive  to  Waikiki,  the  bathing  resort  of  the 
Honoluluians  at  the  foot  of  the  extinct  volcano 
called  Diamond  Point,  is  performed  on  an  excel- 
lent road  and  fully  repays  the  exertion,  while 
another  to  Pali  or  ''great  divide"  is  interesting" 
because  it  shows  that  nature  in  mid-Pacific  is  so 
very  like  nature  in  the  middle  of  all  other  oceans. 
Everybody  raves  about  Honolulu  ;  and  I  should 
say,  for  all  Americans  of  the  West,  it  is  a  decided 
advantage  to  have  an  equable  and  pleasant 
temperature  at  all  seasons  to  which  they  may 
repair  in  six  days  when  health  or  change  is 
needed.  But  in  actual  tropical  beauty  it  cannot 
vie  with  Mauritius  or  Ceylon  in  the  Indian  Ocean, 
or  Madeira  and  the  Azores  in  the  Atlantic  ;  be- 
sides which,  the  strong  stamp  of  American  in- 
fluence has  so  pressed  down  the  Hawaiian  pecu- 
liarities that  the  place  has  lost  its  individuality. 
I  am  not,  however,  prepared  to  call  this  a  misfor- 
tune. Judging  from  some  of  the  old  songs  and 
tunes  of  the  Hawaii  Islands,  both  words  and  notes 
indicate  an  imaginative  and  dreamy  people  who, 
like  poets,  must  wish  to  sit  in  the  sun  all  day  and 
write  about  it  all  night.  I  purchased  an  "  Uku- 
lele "  (a  small  fiddle)  and  some  Hawaiian  songs  ; 
''precious  raindrops  borne  upon  the  summer 
breeze,"  as  one  of  the  songs  informs  me,  and 
discovered  that,  in  the  native  language,  to  say 
that  "The  love  is  there:  the  thought  is  there 
and  the  trysting-place  is  in  Honolulu,"  I  would 
have  to  sing:   "  A-i-a-i-la-i-la  Ke  a-lo-ha,  A-i-a-i- 


294  SAN    FRANCISCO 

la-i-la  Ka-a-no."  I  gave  it  up  and  hurried  to  our 
Consul,  Mr.  Layard,  for  consolation.  What  an 
excellent  repast  Mrs.  Layard  gave  us,  and  how 
pretty  is  their  little  daughter  ! 

San  Francisco,  7  May. 

It  took  us  six  and  a  half  days  to  reach  this 
from  Honolulu.  It  took  very  much  longer  for 
Sir  Francis  Drake  in  1579  to  come  up  from 
Patagonia  in  the  '* Golden  Hind  "  ;  but,  like  him, 
we  entered  the  **  Golden  Gate,"  a  narrow  strait 
one  mile  in  breadth  and  five  miles  long,  and,  like 
him,  we  anchored  opposite  the  place  which  for 
long  was  known  as  Port  Drake.  We  were  so 
near  the  shore  that  we  could  see  very  plainly  the 
havoc  made  by  fire  in  the  quarter  of  the  town 
facing  the  bay,  though  not  that  principal  business 
portion  which  had  most  suffered.  It  was  a 
ghastly  sight,  only  tottering  walls  and  charred 
timber. 

At  10  a.m.  officials  came  on  board  for  every 
purpose  imaginable  and  unimaginable,  and  we 
were  ordered  to  proceed  to  Oakland,  a  suburb  of 
San  Francisco,  there  to  stay  or  catch  trains  as  we 
fancied.  So  we  bid  our  captain  and  his  cour- 
teous officers  adieu  and  transferred  ourselves  to  a 
tender.  Our  long  Pacific  journey  was  at  an 
end. 

Thanks  to  Mr.  Bennett,  our  Consul-General, 
who,   with   his   wife,   very   nearly  escaped   being 


REBUILDING    IN    HASTE  295 

burnt  alive  in  the  hotel  where  they  had  rooms  at 
San  Francisco,  and  were  unable  to  save  much 
more  than  the  clothes  they  wore,  we  were  pro- 
vided with  a  room  at  a  small  inn  at  Oakland, 
whereas  many  of  our  fellow-passengers  could  not 
be  accommodated  anywhere. 

I  understand  that,  despite  the  fact  that  there  are 
sulphurous  springs  north  and  south  of  San 
Francisco,  that  volcanic  forces  surround  it  every- 
where, and  that  the  true  tract  of  the  earthquake 
has  not  as  yet  been  accurately  ascertained,  it  has 
been  decided  to  rebuild  the  city  as  it  was  without 
any  delay.  This  is  all  very  well,  and  indicative 
of  much  pluck,  much  energy,  and  much  con- 
fidence ;  but  seeing  that  earthquakes  were  not 
unknown  visitors  to  San  Francisco  before  this 
latest  disaster,  would  it  not  be  advisable  to 
determine  first  the  marketable  value  of  land  for 
building  purposes  which  is  subject  to  oscillations, 
and  to  ascertain  the  exact  amount  of  damage 
caused  by  the  earthquake  as  distinct  from  that 
for  which  the  fire  is  responsible?  This  cannot 
be  done  until  the  mass  of  rubbish  has  been 
cleared,  and  two  years  is  mentioned  as  the 
minimum  time  within  which  such  clearance  can 
take  place  ;  it  being  borne  in  mind  that  many 
standing  walls  and  buildings  will  have  to  be 
pulled  down  as  unsafe  and  of  no  further  use.  A 
curious  fact  is  made  much  of.  The  tallest  build- 
ings appear  to  have  suffered  least.  I  am  rather 
sorry.     I  do  so  detest  the  look  of  these  monster 


296  SAN    FRANCISCO 

houses.  From  all  accounts  the  earthquake  is 
responsible  for  very  much  less  damage  than  the 
fire,  and  in  regard  to  the  fire  there  are  plenty 
of  contradictory  statements. 

One,  to  which  credence  may  be  given,  is  that 
a  good  portion  of  the  town  might  have  been 
saved  had  the  responsible  authorities  sacrificed  a 
million  or  two  of  property  to  save  hundreds  of 
millions  :  in  other  words,  could  they  in  time  have 
pulled  down  a  whole  block  of  buildings  so  as  to 
check  the  progress  of  the  fire  and  diminish  the 
danger  of  falling  ashes  or  the  licking  of  roofs  by 
tongues  of  flame.  This  was  thought  of,  but, 
alas  !  too  late.  It  appears  that  the  officer  in 
charge  of  the  fire  brigade,  a  gentleman  of  great 
experience  who  always  had  present  before  his 
mind  how  in  185 1  three-quarters  of  the  city  had 
been  burnt  down  and  had  matured  plans  to 
prevent  such  a  recurrence,  had  drawn  up  charts 
indicating  which  blocks  of  houses  should  be 
pulled  down  according  to  the  direction  of  the 
wind  when  an  adjacent  block  was  on  fire  ;  but 
unfortunately  he  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of 
the  disaster,  and  this  unfortunate  circumstance, 
it  is  added,  prevented  his  subordinates  from 
getting  at  the  plans  when  both  time  and  oppor- 
tunity were  lost. 

It  was  very  pathetic  to  hear  of  the  resignation 
with  which  the  houseless  population  of  a  town 
like  San  Francisco,  numbering  close  upon  half  a 
million   inhabitants,  settled  themselves  al  fresco 


A   SUPPOSED  JUDGMENT  297 

upon  the  ruins  of  their  own  houses  without 
exhibiting  any  panic — awe-stricken,  no  doubt,  but 
law-abiding  and  mentally  resolved  to  begin  life 
all  over  again.  The  measures  taken  for  their 
relief  are  said  to  have  been  singularly  adequate 
and  successful,  and  no  disgraceful  conduct  added 
its  black  mantle  to  the  pall  of  distress  so  sadly 
worn  over  the  shoulders  of  the  ruined  "Queen  of 
the  West." 

All  private  accounts  at  the  banks  were  closed, 
and  it  can  well  be  imagined  how  the  forced 
closure  of  some  forty  banks  becomes  a  leviathan 
disaster  in  a  populous  and  industrious  city  ;  but 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  serious 
demurring,  and  when,  after  a  week  of  anxiety, 
some  of  the  better-know^n  citizens  were  able  to 
receive  doles  of  not  more  than  a  hundred  dollars 
a  week  out  of  their  own  money,  even  American 
love  of  independence  did  not  grumble  at  having 
to  submit  to  the  prior  laws  of  prudence  and 
necessity. 

I  am  always  loath  to  believe  all  that  seemingly 
virtuous  people  say  of  others  less  demonstrative 
in  the  line  of  goodness.  The  race  of  Tartuffes 
and  Joseph  Surfaces  is  not  extinguished — but  I 
have  heard  it  many  times  repeated  that,  for  what 
may  be  called  double  essence  of  vice,  San  Fran- 
cisco held  the  record.  I  thought  Port  Said  had 
it.  It  was  not,  therefore,  surprising  to  find  many 
people  looking  upon  the  doom  which  fell  on  the 
stricken  city  as  a  fit  judgment  for  past  iniquities. 


298  SAN    FRANCISCO 

A  more  charitable  view  is  probably  nearer  the 
truth.  An  earthquake,  among  all  the  evil  dis- 
pensations with  which  our  world  is  beset,  is  prob- 
ably the  one  trouble  that  staggers  man  the  most, 
and  from  the  stunning  effects  of  which  he  takes 
longest  to  recover.  Here  it  came  in  the  early 
morning ;  and  fire  had  begun  before  it  was 
realized  that  the  earth  had  shaken  beneath. 

There  was  no  time  to  cope  with  the  conse- 
quences of  an  evil  which  men  had  no  time  to 
realize.  The  earthquake  was  clearly  not  a  super- 
natural visitation.  Earthquakes  are  due,  as  the 
late  seismic  authority,  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope,  put  it, 
"to  the  snap  and  jar  occasioned  by  the  sudden 
and  violent  rupture  of  solid  rock  masses:  and  the 
rupture  of  rocks,  to  expansion  of  deeply  seated 
masses  of  mineral  matter,  consequent  upon  either 
increased  or  diminished  temperature";  and  it  is 
now  acknowledged  that  earthquakes  are  'Mike 
volcanoes,  mere  different  expressions  of  the  same 
subterranean  forces." 

San  Francisco  is  pre-eminently  situated  in  a 
position  to  feel  the  resulting  '* shocks  of  rocks 
ruptured  by  the  expansion  of  deeply  seated 
masses  of  mineral  matter,"  and  that  is  why  I 
permitted  myself  the  remark  that  the  hasty  de- 
sire to  rebuild  should  be  moderated  according 
to  scientific  advice.  Fire,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  the  ever-recurring  consequence  of  violent 
physical  commotions,  and  hence  in  the  calamity 
which    has   befallen    San    Francisco    there   is   so 


"FESTINA    LENTE"  299 

little  ''judgment,"  in  my  opinion,  that  it  rather 
appears  to  have  been  a  merciful  and  providential 
warning  for  the  future. 

There  is  no  question,  however,  that  such 
warnings,  even  though  they  be  merciful,  are  hard 
to  bear  ;  but  American  courage  is  great,  and  rises 
in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the  effort 
required.  It  certainly  has  been  very  fine  through- 
out this  calamity. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  harbour  like  that  of  the 
"Bay  of  Frisco,"  which  is  sixty-five  miles  long 
and  is  fed  by  two  such  rivers  as  the  Sacramento, 
coming  down  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
the  San  Joaquin,  rushing  down  from  the  Nevadas, 
not  to  rise  from  its  ashes  and  again  proudly  claim 
its  place  among  the  great  commercial  centres  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  It  is  certain  to 
do  so,  but  its  well-wishers  may  be  allowed  to 
hope,  without  being  impertinent,  that  the  mag- 
nates of  California  will  rather  insist  on  "  Festina 
lente  "  than  ''  Rapido  contendere  cursu." 

Of  Oakland  itself  I  cannot  say  much.  Its 
Broadway  is  broad  and  its  tramcar  service  excel- 
lent. The  road  to  Alameda  is  interesting,  and 
the  pretty  villas  of  this  watering  resort  are  in- 
viting. But  both  Oakland  and  Alameda  are 
wearing  mourning  for  their  elder  brother  over  the 
bay  whose  name  fifty  years  ago  was  San  Fran- 
cisco de  los  dolores  ! 


CHICAGO 


Chicago,  ii  May. 

We  reached  this,  the  second  city  of  America, 
at  an  early  hour  this  morning,  having  performed 
a  much  too  short  journey  of  seventy-one  hours 
from  San  Francisco  to  this  place.  Comfortably 
ensconced  in  an  ample  "state  room"  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railway,  which  gave  us  all  the 
comfort  and  privacy  we  needed,  we  travelled  on 
the  first  day  through  California  and  Nevada, 
being  ferried  bodily  across  the  Benicia  Lake, 
skirting  and  crossing  the  Sacramento  River, 
beginning  our  ascent  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  at 
Newcastle,  and  reaching  the  summit,  7018  feet,  in 
the  night. 

On  the  second  day  we  travelled  as  far  as 
Ogden,  at  an  average  elevation  of  4000  feet, 
and  for  some  hours  across  that  wonderful  salt 
lake  at  the  southern  end  of  which  lies  the  city  of 
Brigham  Young,  one  of  those  religious  impostors 
of  whom  the  world  has  known  too  many.  He 
was,  however,  a  man  of  administrative  ability,  and 
had  the  courage  to  found  a  community  on  the 
basis  of  his  own  convenience,  and  to  establish 
laws  to  suit  his  own  conceptions  of  worldly  enjoy- 
ment. If  he  was  clever  enough  to  deceive  the 
world  by  styling  his  women  wives  and  himself  a 
high  priest,  successor  to  another  arch-scoundrel, 
Joseph  Smith,  the  inventor  of  the  sect,  I  really 
think   Brigham  Young,  of  Utah  and  Salt   Lake 


AMERICAN    PRESS   AND   CRIME  301 

City,  was  a  more  interesting  personage  than  all 
the  other  latter-day  saints. 

On  the  third  day  we  ran  through  Wyoming, 
Colorado,  Nebraska,  and  Iowa  to  Omaha,  a  big 
and  beautifully -situated  city  on  the  Missouri 
River,  and  when  we  steamed  into  Chicago  on  this 
morning  of  the  fourth  day  in  our  train,  we  quite 
regretted  that  our  journey  across  the  States  was 
at  an  end,  and  that  time  had  not  allowed  of  our 
stopping  at  many  of  the  interesting  places  on  the 
way. 

We  put  up  at  a  bustling  hotel  facing  Lake 
Michigan,  where  the  mighty  dollar  reigns  supreme, 
and  at  the  doors  of  which  a  man  was  shot  last 
week  because  he  stood  in  the  way  of  another, 
probably  more  in  a  hurry  than  himself,  whether 
to  eat  his  dinner  or  to  get  rich,  I  forget  which. 
The  motive  was  trivial,  at  any  rate.  Surely  the 
revolver  still  plays  too  easy  a  part  on  the  life 
stage  of  American  existence,  and  for  a  race  of 
hard  common-sensed  men  with  Christian  instincts 
and  training  it  is  surprising  what  scant  attention 
is  paid  to  the  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not 
kill."  For  downright  gruesome  accounts,  how- 
ever, of  human  brutality  on  the  Western  Con- 
tinent I  know  no  reading  to  compare  with  the 
relation  of  crime  in  the  American  provincial 
papers.  They  wallow  in  details.  They  revel  in 
researches,  and  they  glory  in  laying  bare  the 
actions  of  the  most  retiring  citizens.  A  shoots 
B    at    noon.     At    2    p.m.    a    special    edition    is 


302  CHICAGO 

out,  giving  the  minutest  account  of  A's  family, 
ancestry,  character,  proclivities,  mental  peculiari- 
ties, and  actual  position,  as  well  as  of  B's  dress, 
intentions  and  purposes  at  the  moment  of  death, 
together  with  descriptions  of  his  wounds,  the 
sorrow  of  his  friends,  the  despair  of  his  bereaved 
wife  and  children,  the  state  of  his  desolate  home 
and  of  his  extravagant  mode  of  existence  ;  all 
this  accompanied  by  sketches  of  the  houses 
belonging  to  or  rented  by  the  murderer  and  his 
victim,  and  occasionally  by  description  of  the 
furniture  they  contain  and  the  friends  who  visited 
them. 

I  often  wonder  whether  on  the  Great  Day, 
when  we  are  all  of  us  to  be  judged  in  pre- 
sence of  one  another,  there  will  not  be  a  legion 
of  unfortunate  delinquents  who,  in  self-defence, 
will  denounce  the  inconsiderate  Press  of  many 
lands  as  the  indirect  instigators  of  their  evil 
deeds,  and  perhaps  obtain  that  the  latter  shall 
at  least  share  their  punishment. 

Hysteria  is  an  illness  of  many  shapes  and 
forms,  and  belongs  quite  as  much  to  man  as  to 
woman,  and  hysteria  is  powerfully  moved  by 
imagination.  To  work  on  the  latter  too  much 
is  none  the  less  a  criminal  act  because  it 
may  not  affect  more  than  a  few  weak  intellects, 
for  it  ignores  altogether  its  demoralizing  effects 
on  the  people  at  large.  Few  observers  will 
deny  that  even  the  publication  of  law  courts 
proceedings  is  prejudicial  to  public  morality,  and 


A    RECORD  303 

in  my  humble  opinion,  were  crime  to  be  ignored 
by  the  Press,  its  perpetrators  by  being  snubbed 
would  not  breed  so  many  imitators.  The  mission 
of  the  Press  is  a  civilizing  one,  and  crime  is  a 
retrograde  act.      It  should  not  obtain  notoriety. 

From  these  thoughts,  which  the  murder  on  our 
very  doorsteps  most  naturally  brought  to  mind, 
we  soon,  however,  passed  to  brighter  ones,  for, 
in  response  to  a  telephonic  message  announcing 

our  arrival,  our  friend  Mr.  L drove  up  in  his 

motor  and  whisked  us  off  to  see  the  sights. 

Chicago,  which  takes  its  name  from  its  river  the 
Chacaqua,  an  Indian  word  meaning  "thunder," 
has,  in  an  existence  of  barely  seventy  years,  not 
only  asserted  its  right  to  be  considered  a  city  of 
wonders,  but  is  in  fact  a  very  remarkable  town. 
Official  statistics  show  that  while  in  1837  there 
were  only  4170  inhabitants,  in  1900  there  were 
1,698,575,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  yearly  increase 
of  267  per  cent,  and  there  must,  therefore,  in 
1906,  be  very  nearly  two  million  inhabitants — 
a  record  !  When  the  town  was  first  built,  it  stood 
only  seven  feet  above  the  level  of  a  stormy  lake. 
It  now  stands  fourteen  feet,  and  in  order  to 
obtain  this  result  "many  of  the  houses  were 
elevated  by  means  of  jack-screws  without  being 
vacated  for  purposes  either  of  business  or  of 
residence."  The  river,  which  originally  emptied 
itself  into  Lake  Michigan,  now  finds  its  way  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  owing  to  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal,   which  draws  the  water  of  the 


304  CHICAGO 

lake  and  empties  itself  in  the  Illinois  River,  and 
that  river  into  the  Mississippi. 

In  187 1  the  overturning  of  a  lamp  caused  the 
destruction  of  the  town,  which  was  of  wood,  and 
within  a  year  most  of  the  present  new  city  had 
been  built.  In  education  one-fourth  of  the 
population  attend  the  schools.  There  are  775 
churches,  forty-five  hospitals,  and  the  taxation  on 
real  estate  and  personal  property  yields  as  much 
as  thirty-five  million  dollars,  or  seven  million 
pounds  sterling.  It  is  one  of  the  birthplaces  of 
millionaires  and  a  happy  hunting-ground  for 
impecunious   British   peers. 

Its  parks  are  beautiful,  and  many  villas  are 
charming,  but  like  most  buildings  which  emanate 
from  Anglo-Saxon  brains,  there  are  few  distinctive 
architectural  features.  It  is  an  essentially  busi- 
ness town,  and  still  more  a  town  possessed  of  a 
people  anxious,  ready,  and  determined  to  outstrip 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  what  is  more,  actually 
doing  so.  I  felt  at  the  end  of  the  day  that  I  could 
join  in  the  chorus  to  the  ''March  of  Chicago,"  by 
Mr.  Horace  Spencer  Fiske,  and  sing — 

Then  cheers  for  the  mighty  city, 
As  she  marches  on  her  way, 
With  her  banners  high  in  the  smoke-filled  sky 

And  her  face  turned  toward  the  day  : 
Marching  along  two  million  strong. 
Three  times  three  cheers  for  Chicago  ! 

But  some  of  my  enthusiasm  was  due  to  Mr. 
and    Mrs.    L 's  kind  hospitality,    and  to  the 


A   VAST    INDUSTRY  305 

delight  of  a  pleasant  evening'  with  their  agreeable 
family,  possibly  also  to  my  not  having  read  "The 
Jungle." 

Chicago,  12  May. 

We  devoted  the  morning  to  the   '*  Evolution  of 

a  Vast  Industry."     Mr.  L and  his  son  drove 

us  to  the  stockyards  of  Messrs.  Swift  &  Co., 
where  we  were  presented  with  a  pamphlet  bearing 
the  above  title,  and  were  shown  the  mutability  of 
animal  existence.  The  pamphlet  records  how, 
less  than  fifty  years  ago,  Mr.  Gustavus  Franklin 
Swift  bought  a  heifer  for  twenty  dollars  and  made 
a  profit  of  ten  dollars  on  that  investment ;  how 
Mr.  Swift  became  a  butcher,  and  how  he  thus 
started  a  business,  "the  present  assets  of  which 
are  set  forth  in  the  recent  Government  report  at 
over  64,000,000  dols."  It  also  gives  facts  and 
figures  which  are  truly  startling,  or  as  the  author, 
Mr.  Charles  Winans,  is  fond  of  saying,  "stupend- 
ous." In  1904  "the  total  shipments  of  Swift's 
products  averaged  350  carloads  for  each  working 
day — the  daily  shipments  would  make  thirty-five 
trains  of  ten  cars  to  the  train  ;  the  number  of 
animals  that  pass  to  the  cooling  rooms  every 
year  is  something  like  8,250,000  head  of  cattle, 
sheep,  and  hogs  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  chickens  which  the 
separate  poultry  plants  turn  out — a  grand  total  of 
62,900  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  have  been  trans- 
formed into  dressed  meat  in  all  the  seven  great 


3o6  CHICAGO 

Swift  plants  in  a  single  day.  In  1904,  540,000 
tons  of  coal  were  consumed  ;  6000  cords  of 
hickory  wood  were  burnt  in  the  smoke  houses  " 
(I  wonder  it  was  not  more,  for  the  smell  is  still 
with  me);  "30,000  electric  lights  were  run; 
1,388,100  telegrams  were  sent  and  received,  and 
4,279,080  letters  dealt  with":  all  this  managed 
by  over  25,000  clerks  and  people  of  all  sorts. 

There  is  no  question  that  this  brief  account  is 
the  narrative  of  one  of  the  greatest  expansions 
ever  recorded,  but  in  Chicago  it  all  seems  quite 
natural.  As  Mr.  Winans  probably  rightly  put  it, 
*'  Expansion  and  growth  are  in  the  very  air  of 
Chicago— in  the  air  of  the  whole  marvellous, 
stupendous  West,"  but,  he  adds,  *'of  course 
there  are  some  men  who  would  burst  narrow 
restrictive  meter  and  bounds  anywhere,  and  when 
such  men  get  out  West  young  enough  they  grow 
to  be  giants  "  ;  it  is  not  surprising  therefore  to 
hear  that  "G.  F.  Swift  was  this  kind  of  man." 

The  stock  farm  we  visited  is  undoubtedly  a 
gigantic  affair,  and  I  am  bound  in  truth  to 
acknowledge  that  I  never  saw  dirty  work  more 
cleanly  done.  I  might  have  wished  to  see  the 
hogs  stunned  before  they  are  caught  up  by  the 
relentless  iron  hook  on  which  they  are  suspended 
until,  after  being  stabbed,  washed,  inspected  and 
cut  up,  they  are  turned  into  ham  or  thrown  into 
the  sausage  vat,  because  there  is  decided  cruelty 
in  the  process  now  followed  ;  but  with  this  excep- 
tion, I  saw  nothing  of  what  has  roused  so  much 


"MOVE    ON"  307 

indignation  of  late.  As  to  accidents,  there  is  no 
industry  in  which  steam  or  electric  power  is  used 
where  they  are  not  on  the  card,  but  a  man  or  two 
falling  into  a  *Mard  vat"  would  be  a  much  more 
serious  matter  for  the  firm  than  for  the  man. 
The  ''Giant  G.  F.  Swift"  knew  this  well,  and 
all  precautions  appear  to  have  been  taken.  One 
could  easily  write  quite  a  long  essay  on  a  visit  to 
such  an  establishment,  and  the  more  readily  that 
most  visitors,  I  should  think,  are  not  likely  to 
court  many  chances  of  doing  so  ;  but  for  me,  the 
smell  of  the  smoke-houses,  the  squeal  of  the  pigs, 
the  rivers  of  blood,  the  cutting  up  of  carcasses, 
and  the  sight  of  the  sausages  were  enough  to 
urge  a  retreat  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  I  do 
not  wish  to  renew  the  sensations  I  experienced 
by  any  further  remark  on  the  subject. 

Like  Lasalle  in  1681,  when  he  landed  at  Chi- 
cago and  erected  a  fort  to  protect  himself  against 
the  Indians,  we  wished  to  "move  on"  and  erect 
a  barrier  against  the  pigs.  We  moved  on  that 
afternoon. 

Niagara  Falls,  13  May. 

Coming  from  Japan  where  all  is  so  diminutive, 
to  America  where  everything  is  gigantic,  one  is 
somewhat  apt  to  hesitate  as  to  the  terms  which 
are  appropriate  to  describe  the  reality.  There  is 
no  doubt,  for  instance,  that  a  waterfall  discharg- 
ing eighteen  million  cubic  feet  of  water  per 
minute  is  stupendous  ;  but  then,  on  the  one  hand, 


3o8  NIAGARA    FALLS 

"stupendous"  is  the  adjective  which  Mr.  Winans 
considers  alone  suitable  to  describe  the  trans- 
formation of  a  pig  into  a  breakfast  delicacy  at 
Chicago  ;  and,  on  the  other,  I  am  told  that 
these  Niagara  Falls  are  inferior  to  the  Victoria 
Falls  of  the  Zambezi.  The  Zambezi  Falls,  which 
I  have  not  seen,  appear  already  to  have  become 
the  glib  kind  of  retort  which  people,  who  have 
never  set  foot  out  of  Europe,  make  to  those  who, 
being  lost  in  admiration  of  Niagara,  happen  to 
talk  of  it.  Several  persons  have  thrust  these 
African  falls  at  my  head  in  delightful  ignorance 
of  their  whereabouts,  whenever  I  have  ventured 
to  speak  of  America  and  the  charms  of  Niagara. 
I  gather,  therefore,  that  nothing  new  can  be  said 
about  the  latter,  and  hence  that  not  much  further 
notice  should  be  taken  of  what  has  been  so  long 
and  is  still  a  world's  wonder. 

The  weather  to-day  was  not  at  all  propitious  ; 
but  no  doubt  it  was  only  consistent  with  our 
desire  to  see  a  great  mass  of  water  plunging  into 
an  abyss  about  one  thousand  feet  wide  and 
creating  columns  of  spray  as  high  as  its  own  fall 
of  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  that  we  should  be 
drenched  by  waters  from  the  skies  falling  down 
from  a  much  greater  height  and  producing  less 
noise  and  less  splash.  Though  I  believe  the  fall 
on  the  American  side  is  higher  than  that  on  the 
Canadian  side,  it  certainly  does  not  present  so  fine 
a  view  as  that  which  can  be  got  from  Victoria 
Park,  nor  is  the  bulk  of  water  nearly  so  imposing 


Face  page  30c; 


ELECTRICITY   AND   THE    FALLS  309 

or  so  weird  ;  but  the  beauty  of  either  spectacle 
is  not  now  that  which  most  rivets  the  attention. 
The  possibilities  of  the  Falls  as  a  cheap  factor  in 
electrical  works  are  so  evident,  that  people  who 
cannot  benefit  by  their  use  for  private  dynamos 
are  crying  out  that  the  natural  beauties  of  the 
place  are  being  interfered  with,  and  raising  a 
multitude  of  needless  and  idle  objections.  I 
understand  that,  as  Chicago  cannot  utilize  Lake 
Michigan,  it  is  in  duty  bound  to  object  to 
Lake  Erie  becoming  of  use  to  other  cities.  The 
answer,  however,  is  that  with  eighteen  million 
cubic  feet  of  water  a  minute  it  would  be  a  sin 
not  to  profit  by  this  gift  of  nature,  seeing  that  no 
one  can  suffer  from  "the  diversion  of  a  mere 
streamlet."  Be  it  so  ;  but  many  acts  of  folly 
have  been  committed  at  Niagara  by  men,  women, 
and  dogs,  and  the  dog  was  the  only  creature  that 
came  out  of  a  tussle  with  the  waters.  His  act 
had  been  involuntary,  which  probably  was  his 
saving  clause.  But  are  there  not  too  many 
"  streamlets  "  ? 

New  York,  14  May. 

This  being  the  most  bewildering  city  in  the 
world,  we  put  up  at  the  Waldorf  Astoria — the 
most  bewildering  caravanserai  in  New  York — 
and  at  once  realized  that,  being  free  and  inde- 
pendent men,  we  were  expected  to  behave  as 
such,  and  might  very  possibly  be  lost  altogether 
should    we    rely  on    any  assistance.      Everybody 


3IO  NEW   YORK 

seemed  to  be  an  individual  item  of  nerve  and 
energy  in  a  town  of  colossal  mental,  physical, 
and  arithmetical  strength.  Such  defects  as  blind- 
ness, deafness,  slowness  of  apprehension  or  of 
computation,  and  other  disabilities  of  nature  or 
of  age,  are  apparently  unknown,  and  at  all  events 
little  heeded.  Even  the  lift  men  are  so  busy  a 
race  that  they  have  no  time  to  inquire  which  floor 
a  stranger  is  making  for.  The  Waldorf  Astoria 
has  fourteen  stories  and  a  garden  at  the  top.  I 
journeyed  twice  up  and  down  to  that  garden 
before  I  could  reach  my  room  on  the  sixth  floor, 
so  rapid  were  the  ascents  and  descents,  and  so 
engrossed  was  the  lift  man  with  his  own  thoughts. 
When  I  mildly  remonstrated,  he  calculated  that 
the  fault  was  mine,  and  I  felt  he  was  right. 

The  hotel  was  a  beehive,  and  all  the  bees  have 
no  thought  but  their  own  concerns,  though  they 
have  leisure  to  look  at  each  other.  We  were 
favoured  with  a  single  glance  from  the  motley 
crowd,  but  that  glance  was  expressive  of  our  own 
small  consequence,  and  we  wondered  how  they 
could  arrive  at  such  right  conclusions  in  so  rapid 
a  flash,  but  acknowledged  they  were  right.  Cab- 
men took  us  for  Britishers,  though  we  spoke 
their  language,  and  charged  us — I  was  going  to 
say  extortionate,  but  I  ought  to  call  it  Protec- 
tion prices.  When  we  mildly  expostulated,  they 
''guessed"  they  had  correctly  understood  the  tariff 
and  they  were  right.  It  must  be  the  metropolis 
of  a  people  who  are  never  in  the  wrong. 


LOGIC  311 

When  our  American  cousins  express  an  opinion, 
they  believe  in  it.  They  do  not  emit  it  for  the 
purpose  of  eliciting  concurrence.  This  is  a  great 
moral  strength.  I  have  heard  children  lecture 
their  parents,  and  the  parents  look  as  if  they 
ought  to  have  known  better. 

Years  ago.  Lord  Cowley  gave  a  great  ball  to 
Napoleon  III  and  the  Empress  Eugenie  in  Paris, 
where  he  was  Ambassador.  It  was  in  1867 — the 
year  of  the  great  Exhibition.  An  American 
friend  of  mine  asked  me  on  the  morrow  how  the 
**  Exhibition  Ball  "  had  gone  off.  I  demurred 
to  the  title.  He  was  annoyed,  and  stuck  to  his 
point.  "  I  guess,  sir,"  he  said,  ''  that  you  will  not 
contradict  me  if  I  say  this  is  Exhibition  year?" 
No.  "And  that  there  was  a  ball  last  night?" 
No.  "  Nor  if  I  add  that  the  ball  was  given  in  the 
year  of  the  Exhibition?"  No.  "Then,  sir,  it  was 
an  Exhibition  Ball ! "  This  self-assurance  is 
undoubtedly  a  great  strength.  It  comes  from 
strength  and  makes  for  strength — that  strength 
which  depends  on  energy,  purpose,  work  for 
success,  and  which  does  not  admit  failure  even 
as  a  contingency.  How  will  President  Roose- 
velt's Spelling  Committee  cause  the  words  success 
and  failure  to  be  written  ? 

Strange  are  the  inconsistencies  of  men  !  If 
there  ever  was  a  country  that  has  put  on  six- 
league  boots  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times  and 
"lick  creation  "  at  its  own  game  of  fame,  splen- 
dour,   riches,   literary,   scientific  and   artistic   re- 


312  NEW   YORK 

nown,  it  is  the  United  States,  who  alone  have 
hitherto  been  able  to  find  the  adequate  boots — 
though  the  Japanese  have  since  proved  apt  pupils 
at  the  school  of  rapid  progress — and  yet  at  the 
very  time  that  marks  the  success  of  their  efforts 
in  stamping  the  fine  English  language  with  their 
own  originality  of  thought  and  conception  after 
nearly  a  century  of  study  and  imitation,  some 
faddists  with,  it  is  said,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  as  patron,  are  endeavouring  to 
belittle,  to  caricature,  to  whittle  down  that 
language  ;  forgetting  that  its  written  form  is  the 
result  of  studied  endeavour  in  the  course  of 
ages,  to  bestow  on  written  words  the  same  grace 
and  force  which  orators  have  been  able  to  give 
to  their  utterances.  What  will  the  Fathers  of 
the  Republic — Washington,  Franklin,  Adams, 
Jefferson,  Madison — think  of  such  proceedings? 
Like  a  late  European  sovereign,  on  hearing  that 
one  of  his  noblemen  was  about  to  marry  beneath 
his  rank,  they  might  exclaim,  *' Monsieur,  vous 
biffez  vos  ancetres  d'un  trait  de  plume."  And 
what  would  Prescott,  Emerson,  Poe,  Longfellow 
think  of  so  suicidal  an  attempt  ?  Has  the  an- 
nexation of  Honolulu  enamoured  the  Americans 
of  the  Hawaiian  language,  which  is  susceptible  of 
improvement  could  it  ''aspirate  more  and  aspire 
less "  ?  or  has  American  progress  reached  its 
limit,  and  from  the  magnificent  height  upon  which 
it  scans  the  universe  does  it  want  to  build  little 
steps  so  as  to  render  its  descent  more  easy?   The 


MINIMIZING  313 

Americans  may  proudly  boast  that  they  are  self- 
made  men,  but  their  parent  is  the  vigorous  Eng- 
lish language,  and  to  destroy  that  parent  is  to  be- 
come a  parricide.  I  trust  the  fad  will  go  the  way 
of  fads — *'ad  Acherontem." 

Atlantic,  29  May. 

An  exquisite  summer's  day.  Reading  out  of 
the  question  ;  but  some  one  has  just  disturbed 
my  peaceful  slumber  in  a  cosy  corner  of  one  of 
the  four  decks  of  the  leviathan  Cunarder  (the 
s.s.  "Caronia,"  Captain  Barr)  to  inform  me  that 
the  log  registers  a  run  of  423  miles,  and  that  we 
are  in  longitude  12  west.  This  means  that  to- 
night we  shall  reach  Queenstown,  and  to-morrow 
afternoon  Liverpool,  when  my  journey  round  the 
world   comes  to  an   end. 

I  accept  the  statement  with  equanimity.  The 
world  is  really  a  very  small  affair,  and  man's 
genius  seems  to  be  bent  on  making  it  even 
smaller.  These  huge  ships,  fitted  up  with  such 
luxury  and  offering  every  comfort,  help  to  shorten 
time,  their  speed  to  shorten  space  ;  minimizing 
is  in  the  air.  The  Japanese  dwarf  their  plants, 
the  Americans  the  English  language.  If  time, 
space,  nature,  and  art  are  all  to  be  subjected  to 
the  whittling  process,  the  shorter  my  adieux  to 
the  pleasures  I  have  so  briefly  recalled,  the  more 
I  shall  feel  to  be  in  the  general  swim,  for — 
Vigeo,  sum  salvus,  incolumis. 


APPENDIX 

No.  I 

ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT 
OF  THE   BATTLE   OF  THE  SEA  OF  JAPAN 

By  the  help  of  Heaven  our  united  squadron  fought 
with  the  enemy's  Second  and  Third  Squadrons  on 
27  and  28  May,  and  succeeded  in  almost  annihilating 
him. 

When  the  enemy's  fleet  first  appeared  in  the  south 
seas,  our  squadrons,  in  obedience  to  imperial  command, 
adopted  the  strategy  of  awaiting  him  and  striking  at 
him  in  our  home  waters.  We  therefore  concentrated  our 
strength  at  the  Korean  Straits,  and  there  abode  his 
coming  north.  After  touching  for  a  time  on  the  coast 
of  Annam,  he  gradually  moved  northward,  and  some 
days  before  the  time  when  he  should  arrive  in  our 
waters  several  of  our  guardships  were  distributed  on 
watch  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  according  to  plan, 
while  the  fighting  squadrons  made  ready  for  battle,  each 
anchoring  at  its  base  so  as  to  be  ready  to  set  out  im- 
mediately. 

Thus  it  fell  out  that  on  the  27th,  at  5  a.m.,  the 
southern  guardship,  '*  Shinano  Maru,"  reported  by 
wireless  telegraphy:  "  Enemy's  fleet  sighted  in  No.  203 
section.    He  seems  to  be  steering  for  the  east  channel." 

The  whole  crews  of  our  fleet  leaped  to  their  posts  ; 
the  ships  weighed  at  once,  and  each  squadron,  pro- 
ceeding in  order  to  its  appointed  place,  made  its  dis- 
positions to  receive  the  enemy.  At  7  a.m.  the  guardship 
on  the  left  wing  of  the  inner  line,  the  "Izumi,"  reported: 

315 


3i6  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

"The  enemy's  ships  are  in  sight.  He  has  already  reached 
a  point  twenty-five  nautical  miles  to  the  north-west  of 
Ukujima ;  he  is  advancing  north-east."  The  Togo 
(Captain  Togo  Masamichi)  section,  the  Dewa  section, 
and  the  cruiser  squadron  (which  was  under  the  direct 
command  of  Vice-Admiral  Kataoka)  came  into  touch 
with  the  enemy  from  lo  to  ii  a.m.,  between  Iki  and 
Tsushima,  and  thereafter  as  far  as  the  neighbourhood 
of  Okinoshima,  these  ships,  though  fired  on  from  time 
to  time  by  the  enemy,  successfully  kept  in  constant 
touch  with  him,  and  conveyed  by  telegraph  accurate 
and  frequent  reports  of  his  state.  Thus,  though  a 
fog  covered  the  sea,  making  it  impossible  to  observe 
anything  at  a  distance  of  over  five  miles,  all  the  con- 
ditions of  the  enemy  were  as  clear  to  us,  who  were 
thirty  or  forty  miles  distant,  as  though  they  had  been 
under  our  very  eyes.  Long  before  we  came  in  sight 
of  him  we  knew  that  his  fighting  force  comprised 
the  Second  and  Third  Baltic  Squadrons,  that  he  had 
seven  special  service  ships  with  him,  that  he  was 
marshalled  in  two  columns  line  ahead,  that  his  strongest 
vessels  were  at  the  head  of  the  right  column,  that  his 
special  service  craft  followed  in  the  rear,  that  his  speed 
was  about  twelve  knots,  and  that  he  was  still  advancing 
to  the  north-east. 

Therefore,  I  was  enabled  to  adopt  the  strategy  of 
directing  my  main  strength,  at  about  2  p.m.,  towards 
Okinoshima  with  the  object  of  attacking  the  head  of 
his  left  column.  The  main  squadron,  the  armoured 
cruiser  squadron,  the  Uriu  section,  and  the  various 
destroyer  sections,  at  noon  reached  a  point  about  ten 
nautical  miles  north  of  Okinoshima,  whence,  with  the 
object  of  attacking  the  enemy's  left  column,  they  steered 
west,  and  at  about  1.30  p.m.  the  Dewa  section,  the 
cruiser  squadron,  and  the  Togo  (Captain)  section,  still 
keeping  touch  with  the  enemy,  arrived  one  after  the 
other  and  joined  forces.     At  1.45  p.m.  we  sighted  the 


THE    BATTLE    OF   THE    SEA    OF  JAPAN      317 

enemy  for  the  first  time  at  a  distance  of  several  miles 
south  on  our  port  bow.  As  had  been  expected,  his 
right  column  was  headed  by  four  battleships  of  the 
''Borodino"  type;  his  left  by  the  "Oslyabya,"  the 
•'  Sissoi  Veliky,"  the  "  Navarin,"  and  the  "  Nakimoff," 
after  which  came  the  "Nikolai  I"  and  the  three  coast 
defence  vessels,  forming  another  squadron.  The  "Jem- 
chug"  and  the  "  Izumrud "  were  between  the  two 
columns,  and  seemed  to  be  acting  as  forward  scouts. 
In  the  rear,  obscured  by  the  fog,  we  indistinctly  made 
out  the  "  Oleg  "  and  the  "Aurora,"  with  other  second 
and  third-class  cruisers,  forming  a  squadron  ;  while 
the  "Dmitri  Donskoi,"  the  "Vladimir  Monomakh," 
and  the  special  service  steamers  were  advancing  in 
column  line  ahead,  extending  to  a  distance  of  several 
miles. 

I  now  ordered  the  whole  fleet  to  go  into  action,  and 
at  1.55  p.m.  I  ran  up  this  signal  for  all  the  ships  in 
sight:  "The  fate  of  the  Empire  depends  upon  this 
event.     Let  every  man  do  his  utmost." 

Shortly  afterwards  the  main  squadron  headed  south- 
west, and  made  as  though  it  would  cross  the  enemy's 
course  at  right  angles  ;  but  at  five  minutes  past  two 
o'clock  the  squadron  suddenly  turned  east,  and  bore 
down  on  the  head  of  the  enemy's  column  in  a  diagonal 
direction.  The  armoured  cruiser  squadron  followed  in 
the  rear  of  the  main  squadron,  the  whole  forming  single 
column  line  ahead.  The  Dewa  section,  the  Uriu  sec- 
tion, the  cruiser  squadron,  and  the  Togo  (Captain) 
section,  in  accordance  with  the  previously  arranged 
plan  of  action,  steers  south  to  attack  the  rear  of  the 
enemy's  column.  Such,  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle, 
were  the  dispositions  on  both  sides. 

FIGHT   OF   THE   MAIN    SQUADRON 

The  head  of  the  enemy's  column,  when  our  main 
squadron  bore  down  on  it,  changed  its  course  a  little  to 


3i8  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

starboard,  and  at  eight  minutes  past  two  o'clock  he 
opened  fire.  We  did  not  reply  for  some  time,  but 
when  we  came  within  six  thousand  metres'  range  we 
concentrated  a  heavy  fire  on  two  of  his  battleships. 
This  seemed  to  force  him  more  than  ever  to  the  south- 
east, and  his  two  columns  simultaneously  changed  their 
course  by  degrees  to  the  east,  thus  falling  into  irregular 
columns  line  ahead,  and  moving  parallel  to  us.  The 
"Oslyabya,"  which  headed  the  left  column,  was  soon 
heavily  injured,  burst  into  a  strong  conflagration,  and 
left  the  fighting  line.  The  whole  of  the  [Japanese] 
armoured  cruiser  squadron  was  now  steaming  behind 
the  main  squadron  in  line,  and,  the  fire  of  both 
squadrons  becoming  more  and  more  effective  as  the 
range  decreased,  the  flagship,  ''Kniaz  Suvaroff,"  and 
the  "  Imperator  Alexander  III,"  which  was  the  second 
in  the  line,  burst  heavily  into  flames  and  left  the  fight- 
ing line,  so  that  the  enemy's  order  became  more  de- 
ranged. Several  of  the  ships  following  also  took  fire, 
and  the  smoke,  carried  by  the  westerly  wind,  quickly 
swept  over  the  face  of  the  sea,  combining  with  the  fog 
to  envelop  the  enemy's  fleet,  so  that  our  principal 
fighting  squadrons  ceased  firing  for  a  time. 

On  our  side  also  the  ships  had  suffered  more  or  less. 
The  "  Asama"  had  been  struck  by  three  shells  in  the 
stern  near  the  waterline,  her  steering-gear  had  been 
injured,  and  she  was  leaking  badly,  so  that  she  had  to 
leave  the  fighting  line  ;  but  she  performed  temporary 
repairs,  and  was  very  soon  able  to  resume  her  place. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  main  fighting  forces  on  each 
side  at  2.45  p.m.  Already  the  result  of  the  battle  had 
been  decided  in  this  interval. 

Thereafter  our  main  squadron,  forcing  the  enemy  in 
a  southerly  direction,  fired  on  him  in  a  leisurely  manner 
whenever  his  ships  could  be  discerned  through  the 
smoke  and  fog,  and  at  3  p.m.  we  were  in  front  of  his 
line,  and  shaped  a  nearly  south-easterly  course.     But 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    SEA    OF   JAPAN      319 

the  enemy  now  suddenly  headed  north,  and  seemed 
about  to  pass  northward  by  the  rear  of  our  line.  There- 
fore our  main  squadron  at  once  went  about  to  port,  and, 
with  the  "  Nisshin  "  leading,  steered  to  the  north-west. 
The  armoured  cruiser  squadron  also,  following  in  the 
main  squadron's  wake,  changed  front,  and  thereafter 
again  forced  the  enemy  southward,  firing  on  him 
heavily.  At  3.7  p.m.  the  "Jemchug"  came  up  to  the 
rear  of  the  armoured  cruiser  squadron,  but  was  severely 
injured  by  our  fire.  The  "Oslyabya"  also,  which  had 
already  been  put  out  of  action,  sank  at  ten  minutes 
past  three  o'clock,  and  the  "  Kniaz  Suvaroff,"  which 
had  been  isolated,  was  injured  more  and  more.  She 
lost  one  of  her  masts  and  two  smoke-stacks,  and  the 
whole  ship,  being  enveloped  in  flame  and  smoke,  be- 
came unmanageable,  and  her  crew  fell  into  confusion. 
The  enemy's  other  vessels,  suffering  heavily,  changed 
their  course  again  to  the  east.  The  main  squadron 
now  altered  its  direction  sixteen  points  to  starboard, 
and,  the  armoured  cruiser  squadron  following,  they 
pursued  the  retreating  enemy,  pouring  a  constantly 
heavier  fire  on  him,  and  discharging  torpedoes  also 
whenever  occasion  offered.  Until  4.45  p.m.  there  was 
no  special  change  in  the  condition  of  the  principal 
fight.  The  enemy  was  constantly  pressed  south,  and 
the  firing  continued. 

What  deserves  to  be  specially  recounted  here  is  the 
conduct  of  the  destroyer  **Chihaya"  and  of  the 
Hirose  destroyer  section  at  3.40  p.m.,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Suzuki  destroyer  section  at  4.45  p.m. 
These  bravely  fired  torpedoes  at  the  flagship  "Suvar- 
off." The  result  was  not  clear  in  the  case  of  the  first- 
named  boats,  but  a  torpedo  discharged  by  the  last- 
named  section  hit  the  "Suvaroff"  astern  on  the  port 
side,  and  after  a  time  she  was  seen  to  list  some  ten 
degrees.  In  those  two  attacks  the  "Shiranui,"  of  the 
Hirose    section,    and    the    "Asashio,"  of    the   Suzuki 


320  ADMIRAL    TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

section,  being  each  hit  once  by  shells  from  ships  in  the 
neighbourhood,  fell  into  some  danger,  but  both  happily 
escaped. 

At  4.40  p.m.  the  enemy  apparently  abandoned  the 
attempt  to  seek  an  avenue  of  escape  northward,  for  he 
headed  south  and  seemed  inclined  to  fly  in  that  direc- 
tion. Accordingly  our  chief  fighting  force,  with  the 
armoured  cruiser  squadron  in  advance,  went  in  pursuit, 
but  lost  him  after  a  time  in  the  smoke  and  fog.  Steam- 
ing south  for  about  eight  miles,  we  fired  leisurely  on  a 
second-class  cruiser  of  the  enemy's  and  some  special 
service  steamers  which  we  passed  on  our  starboard, 
and  at  5.30  p.m.  our  main  squadron  turned  northward 
again  in  search  of  the  enemy's  principal  force,  while 
the  armoured  cruiser  squadron,  proceeding  to  the 
south-west,  attacked  the  enemy's  cruisers.  Thereafter 
until  nightfall  these  two  squadrons  followed  different 
routes,  and  did  not  again  sight  each  other. 

At  5.40  p.m.  the  main  squadron  fired  once  upon  the 
enemy's  special  service  steamer  "  Ural,"  which  was 
near  by  on  the  port  side,  and  at  once  sank  her.  Then, 
as  the  squadron  was  steaming  north  in  search  of  the 
enemy,  it  sighted  on  the  port  bow  the  remaining  ships 
of  his  principal  force — six  in  number — flying  in  a 
cluster  to  the  north-east.  Approaching  at  once,  it 
steamed  parallel  to  these  and  then  renewed  the  fight, 
gradually  emerging  ahead  of  them  and  bearing  down 
on  their  front.  The  enemy  had  steered  north-east  at 
first,  but  his  course  was  gradually  deflected  to  the  west, 
and  he  finally  pushed  north-west.  This  fight  on  parallel 
lines  continued  from  6  p.m.  to  nightfall.  The  enemy 
suffered  so  heavily  that  his  fire  was  much  reduced, 
whereas  our  deliberate  practice  told  more  and  more. 
A  battleship  of  the  ''Alexander  III"  type  quickly  left 
the  fighting  line  and  fell  to  the  rear,  and  a  vessel  like 
the  "Borodino,"  which  led  the  column,  took  fire  at 
6.40  p.m.,  and  at  7.23  suddenly  became  enveloped  in 


THE   BATTLE   OF   THE    SEA   OF  JAPAN      321 

smoke  and  sank  in  an  instant,  the  flames  having  prob- 
ably reached  her  magazine.  Further,  the  ships  of  the 
armoured  cruiser  squadron,  which  were  then  in  the 
south  pursuing  the  enemy's  cruiser  squadron  north- 
ward, saw  at  7.7  p.m.  a  vessel  like  the  "Borodino," 
with  a  heavy  list  and  in  an  unmanageable  condition, 
come  to  the  side  of  the  "  Nakhimoff,"  where  she  turned 
over  and  went  to  the  bottom.  It  was  subsequently 
ascertained  from  the  prisoners  that  this  was  the 
"Alexander  III,"  and  that  the  vessel  which  the  main 
squadron  saw  sink  was  the  "  Borodino." 

It  was  now  getting  dusk,  and  our  destroyer  sections 
and  torpedo  sections  gradually  closed  in  on  the  enemy 
from  the  east,  north,  and  south,  their  preparations  for 
attack  having  been  already  made.  Therefore  the  main 
squadron  ceased  by  degrees  to  press  the  enemy,  and  at 
7. 28  p.m.,  when  the  sun  was  setting,  drew  off  to  the 
east.  I  then  ordered  the  "Tatsuta"  to  carry  orders  to 
the  fleet  that  it  should  proceed  northward  and  rendez- 
vous on  the  following  morning  at  the  Ulneung  Islands. 

This  ended  the  battle  during  the  daylight  on  the 
27th. 

FIGHT   OF   THE   DEWA,    URIU,    AND   TOGO    (CAPTAIN) 
SECTIONS   AND   OF   THE   CRUISER   SQUADRON 

At  2  p.m.,  when  the  order  to  open  the  fight  was  given, 
the  Dewa,  Uriu,  and  Togo  sections  and  the  cruiser 
squadron,  separating  from  the  main  squadron,  steamed 
back  south,  keeping  the  enemy  on  the  port  bow.  In 
pursuance  of  the  strategical  plan  already  laid  dowm, 
they  proceeded  to  menace  the  vessels  forming  the 
enemy's  rear,  namely,  the  special  service  steamers  and 
the  cruisers  "Oleg,"  "Aurora,"  "Svietlana,"  "Almaz," 
"Dmitri  Donskoi,"  and  "Vladimir  Monomakh."  The 
Dewa  and  Uriu  sections,  working  together  in  line, 
reached  the  enemy's  squadron  and,  steaming  in  a 
direction  opposite  to  his  course,  engaged  him,  gradu- 

Y 


322  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

ally  passing  round  his  rear  and  emerging  on  his  star- 
board, where  the  attack  was  renewed  on  parallel 
courses.  Then,  taking  advantage  of  their  superior 
speed,  these  sections  changed  front  at  their  own  con- 
venience, sometimes  engaging  the  enemy  on  the  port 
side,  sometimes  on  the  starboard.  After  thirty  minutes 
of  this  fighting  the  enemy's  rear  section  gradually  fell 
into  disorder,  his  special  service  steamers  and  warships 
scattering  and  losing  their  objective.  At  a  little  after 
3  p.m.  a  vessel  like  the  "Aurora"  left  the  enemy's 
rank  and  approached  our  ships,  but,  being  severely 
injured  by  our  fire,  she  fell  back.  Again,  at  3.40  p.m., 
three  of  the  enemy's  destroyers  sallied  out  to  attack  us, 
but  were  repulsed  without  accomplishing  anything. 

The  result  of  this  combined  attack  by  the  Dewa 
and  Uriu  sections  was  that  by  four  o'clock  there 
had  been  a  marked  development  of  the  situation,  the 
enemy's  rear  sections  being  thrown  completely  into 
disorder.  Ships  in  this  quarter  had  fallen  out  of  their 
formation  ;  all  seemed  to  have  suffered  more  or  less 
injury,  and  some  were  seen  to  have  become  unman- 
ageable. 

The  Uriu  section,  at  about  4.20  p.m.,  seeing  one 
of  the  enemy's  special  service  steamers  (probably  the 
**Anjier"),  a  three-master  with  two  smoke-stacks, 
which  had  become  isolated,  at  once  bore  down  on  her 
and  sank  her.  This  section  also  fired  heavily  on 
another  special  service  steamer,  a  four-master  with  one 
funnel  (probably  the  "  litis  "),  and  nearly  sank  her. 

About  this  time  our  cruiser  squadron  and  the 
Togo  section  arriving  on  the  scene,  joined  forces 
with  the  Dewa  and  Uriu  sections,  and,  all  work- 
ing together,  pursued  and  attacked  the  enemy's  dis- 
ordered cruiser  squadron  and  special  service  steamers. 
While  this  was  in  progress,  four  of  the  enemy's  war- 
ships (perhaps  the  coast  defence  vessels),  which  had 
been  forced  back  by  our  main  squadrons,  came  steam- 


THE    BATTLE   OF   THE   SEA   OF  JAPAN       323 

ing  south  and  joined  his  cruiser  squadron.  Thus  the 
Uriu  section  and  our  cruiser  squadron  became 
heavily  engaged  with  these  for  a  time  at  short  range, 
and  all  suffered  more  or  less,  but  fortunately  their 
injuries  were  not  serious. 

Previously  to  this  the  "Kasagi,"  flagship  of  the 
Dewa  section,  had  been  hit  in  her  port  bunker  below 
the  waterline.  As  she  made  water,  it  became  necessary 
for  her  to  proceed  to  a  place  where  the  sea  was  calm  in 
order  to  effect  temporary  repairs.  Rear-Admiral  Dewa 
himself  took  away  the  "  Kasagi  "  and  "  Chitose  "  for 
that  purpose,  and  the  remaining  ships  of  his  section 
passed  under  the  command  of  Rear-Admiral  Uriu.  At 
6  p.m.  the  "Kasagi"  reached  Aburaya  Bay,  and 
Rear-Admiral  Dewa,  transferring  his  flag  to  the 
*'Chitose,"  steamed  out  during  the  night,  but  the 
"  Kasagi's"  repairs  required  so  much  time  that  she 
was  not  able  to  take  part  in  the  pursuit  the  following 
day.  The  flagship  "Taniwa,"  of  the  Uriu  section, 
also  received  a  shell  below  the  waterline  astern,  and  at 
about  5.10  p.m.  she  had  to  leave  the  fighting  line  and 
effect  temporary  repairs. 

Alike  in  the  north  and  in  the  south  the  enemy's  whole 
fleet  was  now  in  disorder,  and  had  fallen  into  a  pitiable 
broken  condition.  Therefore  at  5.30  p.m.  our  armoured 
cruiser  squadron  separated  from  the  main  squadron, 
and,  steaming  south,  attacked  the  enemy's  cruiser 
squadron.  At  the  same  time  the  enemy,  forming  a 
group,  all  fled  north  pursued  by  the  Uriu  section, 
the  cruiser  squadron,  and  the  Togo  section.  On 
the  way  the  enemy's  battleship  *'Kniaz  Suvaroff," 
which  had  been  left  behind  unmanageable,  as  well  as 
his  repair  ship  "Kamchatka,"  were  sighted,  and  the 
cruiser  squadron,  with  the  Togo  section,  at  once 
proceeded  to  destroy  them.  At  7.10  p.m.  the  "Kam- 
chatka" was  sunk,  and  then  the  Fujimoto  torpedo 
section,    which    accompanied    the    cruiser    squadron, 


324  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

steamed  out  and  attacked  the  "Suvaroff."  She  made 
her  last  resistance  with  a  small  gun  astern,  but  was 
finally  struck  by  two  of  our  torpedoes  and  went  down. 
This  was  at  7.20  p.m.  Very  shortly  afterwards  our 
ships  in  this  part  of  the  field  received  orders  to  rendez- 
vous at  the  Ulneung  Islands,  and  subsequently  we 
ceased  fighting,  and  steamed  to  the  north-east. 

FIGHT   OF   THE  DESTROYER   AND   TORPEDO   SECTIONS 

The  fight  during  the  night  of  the  27th  began  immedi- 
ately after  the  battle  during  the  day  had  ceased.  It  was 
a  vehement  and  most  resolute  attack  by  the  various 
destroyer  and  torpedo  sections. 

From  the  morning  of  this  day  a  strong  south-west 
wind  had  raised  a  sea  so  high,  that  the  handling  of 
small  craft  became  very  difficult.  Perceiving  this,  I 
caused  the  torpedo  section  which  accompanied  my  own 
squadron  to  take  refuge  in  Miura  Bay  before  the  day 
fighting  commenced.  Towards  evening  the  wind  lost 
some  of  its  force,  but  the  sea  remained  very  high,  and 
the  state  of  affairs  was  very  unfavourable  for  night 
operations  by  our  torpedo  craft.  Nevertheless,  our 
destroyer  sections  and  torpedo  sections,  fearing  to  lose 
this  unique  occasion  for  combined  action,  all  stood  out 
before  sunset,  regardless  of  the  state  of  the  weather,  and, 
each  vying  with  the  other  to  take  the  lead,  approached 
the  enemy.  The  Fujimoto  destroyer  section  steaming 
north,  the  Yajima  destroyer  section  and  the  Kawase 
torpedo  section  from  the  north-east,  bore  down  on  the 
enemy's  main  squadron,  while  the  rear  of  the  same 
squadron  was  approached  by  the  Yoshijima  destroyer 
section  from  the  east  and  the  Hirose  destroyer  section 
from  the  south-east.  The  Fukuda,  Otaki,  Aoyama,  and 
Kawada  torpedo  sections,  coming  from  the  south,  pur- 
sued the  detached  vessels  of  the  enemy's  main  squadron 
as  well  as  the  group  of  cruisers  on  a  parallel  line  in  his 
left    rear.      Thus,    as    night   fell,    these   torpedo   craft 


THE    BATTLE    OF   THE    SEA    OF   JAPAN      325 

closed  in  on  him  from  three  sides.  Alarmed  apparently 
by  this  onset,  the  enemy  at  sunset  steered  off  to  the 
south-west,  and  seems  to  have  then  changed  his  course 
again  to  the  east.  At  8.15  p.m.  the  night  battle  was 
commenced  by  the  Yajima  destroyer  attacking  the  head 
of  the  enemy's  main  squadron,  whereafter  the  various 
sections  of  torpedo  craft  swarmed  about  him  from  every 
direction,  and  until  11  p.m.  kept  up  a  continuous  attack 
at  close  quarters.  From  nightfall  the  enemy  made  a 
desperate  resistance  by  the  aid  of  search-lights  and 
the  flashing  of  guns,  but  the  onset  overcame  him,  he 
lost  his  formation  and  fell  into  confusion,  his  vessels 
scattering  in  all  directions  to  avoid  our  onslaught.  The 
torpedo  sections  pursuing  a  pell-mell  contest  ensued, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  battleship  "  Sissoi  Veliky" 
and  the  armoured  cruisers  "Admiral  Nakhimoff"  and 
"Vladimir  Monomakh,"  three  ships  at  least,  were 
struck  by  torpedoes,  put  out  of  action,  and  rendered 
unmanageable.  On  our  side  No.  69  of  the  Fukuda 
torpedo  section.  No.  34  of  the  Aoyama  section,  and  No. 
35  of  the  Kawada  section  were  all  sunk  by  the  enemy's 
shells  during  the  action,  while  the  destroyers  "  Haru- 
same,"  "Akatsuki,"  "Ikazuchi,"  and  "Yugiri,"  as 
well  as  the  torpedo  boats  "  Sagi  "  No.  68  and  No.  33, 
suffered  more  or  less  from  gun-fire  or  from  collisions 
being  temporarily  put  out  of  action.  The  casualties 
also  were  comparatively  numerous,  especially  in  the 
Fukuda,  Aoyama,  and  Kawada  sections.  The  crews 
of  the  three  torpedo  boats  which  sank  were  taken  off  by 
their  consorts,  the  "  Kari,"  No.  31  and  No.  61. 

According  to  statements  subsequently  made  by 
prisoners,  the  torpedo  attack  that  night  was  in- 
describably fierce.  The  torpedo  craft  steamed  in  so 
rapidly  and  so  close  that  it  was  impossible  to  deal  with 
them,  and  they  came  to  such  short  range  that  the  war- 
ships' guns  could  not  be  depressed  sufficiently  to  aim 
at  them. 


326  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  Suzuki  destroyer  sec- 
tion and  other  torpedo  sections  proceeded  in  other 
directions  the  same  night  to  search  for  the  enemy.  On 
the  28th,  at  2  a.m.,  the  Suzuki  section  sighted  two  ships 
steaming  north  at  a  distance  of  some  twenty-seven  miles 
east-north-east  of  Karasaki.  The  section  immediately 
gave  chase  and  sank  one  of  the  ships.  Subsequent 
statements  by  prisoners  rescued  from  her  showed  her  to 
be  the  battleship  "  Navarin,"  and  that  she  was  struck 
by  two  torpedoes  on  each  side,  after  which  she  sank  in 
a  few  minutes.  The  other  torpedo  sections  searched  in 
various  directions  all  night,  but  accomplished  nothing. 

THE    FIGHT    ON    28    MAY 

At  dawn  on  28  May  the  fog  which  had  prevailed  since 
the  previous  day  lifted.  The  main  squadron  and  the 
armoured  cruiser  squadron  had  already  reached  a  point 
some  twenty  miles  south  of  the  Ulneung  Islands,  and 
the  other  sections,  as  well  as  the  various  torpedo  craft 
which  had  been  engaged  in  the  attack  during  the  night, 
gradually  and  by  different  routes  drew  up  towards  the 
rendezvous.  At  5.20  a.m.,  when  I  was  about  to  form 
the  armoured  cruiser  squadron  into  a  search  cordon 
from  east  to  west  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  the  enemy's 
line  of  retreat,  the  cruiser  squadron,  which  was 
advancing  northward,  being  then  about  sixty  miles 
astern,  signalled  that  it  had  sighted  the  enemy  eastward 
and  that  several  columns  of  smoke  were  observable. 
Shortly  afterwards  this  squadron  approached  the  enemy 
and  reported  that  his  force  consisted  of  four  battleships 
— two  of  these  were  subsequently  found  to  be  coast 
defence  vessels — and  two  cruisers,  and  that  it  was 
advancing  north.  Without  further  inquiry  it  became 
clear  that  these  ships  formed  the  chief  body  of  the 
enemy's  remaining  force.  Therefore  our  main  squadron 
and  armoured  cruiser  squadron  put  about,  and,  gradu- 


THE    BATTLE   OF   THE   SEA   OF  JAPAN      327 

ally  heading  east,  barred  the  enemy's  line  of  advance, 
while  the  Togo  and  Uriu  sections,  joining  the  cruiser 
squadron,  contained  him  in  rear,  so  that  by  10.30  a.m., 
at  a  point  some  eighteen  miles  south  of  Takeshima  (the 
Liancourt  Rocks),  the  enemy  was  completely  enveloped. 
His  force  consisted  of  the  battleships  "Orel"  and 
*'  Nikolai  I,"  the  coast  defence  ships  "  Admiral 
Apraxine"  and  "Admiral  Seniavin,"  and  the  cruiser 
"  Izumrud,"  five  ships  in  all.  Another  cruiser  was  seen 
far  southward,  but  she  passed  out  of  sight.  Not  only 
had  these  remnants  of  the  enemy's  fleet  already  sus- 
tained heavy  injuries,  but  also  they  were,  of  course, 
incapable  of  resisting  our  superior  force.  Therefore, 
soon  after  our  main  squadron  and  armoured  cruiser 
squadron  had  opened  fire  on  them.  Rear- Admiral 
Nebogatoff,  who  commanded  the  enemy's  ships,  sig- 
nalled his  desire  to  surrender  with  the  force  under  him. 
I  accepted  his  surrender,  and  as  a  special  measure 
allowed  the  officers  to  retain  their  swords.  But  the 
cruiser  "Izumrud,"  previously  to  his  surrender,  had 
fled  southward  at  full  speed,  and,  breaking  through 
Togo's  section,  had  then  steamed  east.  Just  then  the 
"  Chitose,"  which,  on  her  way  back  from  Aburaya  Bay, 
had  sunk  one  of  the  enemy's  destroyers  en  route,  reached 
the  scene,  and,  immediately  changing  her  course,  gave 
chase  to  the  "Izumrud,"  but  failed  to  overtake  her, 
and  she  escaped  north. 

Previously  to  this  the  Uriu  section,  while  on  its  way 
north  at  7  a.m.,  sighted  one  of  the  enemy's  ships  in  the 
west.  Thereupon  the  "  Otowa "  and  the  "  Niitaka," 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Arima,  of  the  former 
cruiser,  were  detached  to  destroy  her.  At  9  a.m.  they 
drew  up  to  her,  and  found  that  she  was  the  "Sviet- 
lana,"  accompanied  by  a  destroyer.  Pushing  closer  they 
opened  fire,  and,  after  about  an  hour's  engagement,  sank 
the  "Svietlana"at  1 1.6  a.m.  off  Chyukpyong  Bay.  The 
"Niitaka," accompanied  by  the  destroyer  "Murakumo," 


328  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

which  had  just  arrived,  continued  the  pursuit  of  the 
enemy's  destroyer  "Buistri,"  and  at  11.50  a.m.  drove 
it  ashore  and  destroyed  it  in  an  unnamed  bay  some  five 
miles  north  of  Chyukpyong  Bay.  The  survivors  of 
these  two  vessels  were  all  rescued  by  our  special  service 
steamers,  "  America  Maru  "  and  "  Kasuga  Maru." 

The  main  part  of  our  combined  squadron  which  had 
received  the  enemy's  surrender  were  still  near  the  place 
of  the  surrender,  and  were  engaged  in  dealing  with  the 
four  captured  ships,  when,  at  3  p.m.,  the  enemy's 
vessel,  "  Admiral  Oushakoff,"  was  sighted  approaching 
from  the  south.  A  detachment  consisting  of  the  ' '  I wate  " 
and  the  "Yakumo"  were  immediately  sent  after  her, 
and  at  a  little  after  8  p.m.  they  overtook  her,  as  she 
steamed  south.  They  summoned  her  to  surrender,  but 
for  reply  she  opened  fire,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  attack  her.  She  was  finally  sunk,  and  her  sur- 
vivors, over  three  hundred,  were  rescued. 

At  3.30  p.m.,  the  destroyers  "  Sazanami "  and 
"  Kagero"  sighted  two  destroyers  of  the  enemy  escap- 
ing east,  and  then  at  a  point  some  forty  miles  south- 
west of  Ulneung  Islands.  These  were  pursued  at  full 
speed  to  the  north-west,  and  being  overtaken  at 
4.45  p.m.,  an  action  commenced.  The  rearmost  of  the 
two  destroyers  then  ran  up  a  white  fiag  in  token  of 
surrender,  whereupon  the  "  Sazanami "  immediately 
took  possession  of  her.  She  was  found  to  be  the 
"  Biedvi,"  with  Vice-Admiral  Rozhdestvensky  and  his 
staff  on  board.  These,  with  her  crew,  were  made 
prisoners.  The  "  Kagero,"  meanwhile,  continued  the 
chase  of  the  other  destroyer  up  to  half-past  six,  but  she 
finally  escaped  north. 

At  5  p.m.  the  Uriu  section  and  the  Yajima 
destroyer  section,  which  were  searching  for  the  enemy 
in  a  westerly  direction,  sighted  the  battleship  "Dmitri 
Donskoi  "  steaming  north,  and  went  in  pursuit.  Just 
as  the  Russian  vessel  reached  a  point  some  thirty  miles 


THE    BATTLE    OF   THE    SEA    OF   JAPAN      329 

south  of  the  Ulneung  Islands,  the  "Otowa"  and 
"Niitaka,"  with  the  destroyers  "Asagiri,"  '*  Shira- 
kumo,"  and  "Fubuki,"  which  were  coming  back  from 
Chyukpyong  Bay,  bore  down  on  her  from  the  west  and 
opened  fire,  so  that  she  was  brought  between  a  cross 
cannonade  from  these  and  the  Uriu  section.  This 
heavy  fire  from  both  sides  was  kept  up  until  after  sun- 
set, by  which  time  she  was  almost  shattered,  but  still 
afloat.  During  the  night  she  passed  out  of  sight. 
So  soon  as  the  cruisers  had  ceased  firing  on  her  the 
''Fubuki"  and  the  Yajima  destroyer  section  attacked 
her,  but  the  result  was  uncertain.  On  the  following 
morning,  however,  she  was  seen  drifting  near  the  south- 
east coast  of  the  Ulneung  Islands,  where  she  finally 
sank.  Her  survivors,  who  had  landed  on  the  islands, 
were  taken  off  by  the  "  Kasuga  "  and  the  "  Fubuki." 

While  the  greater  part  of  the  combined  squadrons 
were  thus  busily  engaged  in  the  north  dealing  with  the 
results  of  the  pursuit,  there  were  in  the  south  also  some 
considerable  captures  of  ships  remaining  at  the  scene 
of  the  action.  Thus  the  special  service  steamers 
"Shinano  Maru,"  *' Tainan  Maru,"  and  "  Yawata 
Maru,"  which  had  set  out  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
28th  charged  with  the  duty  of  searching  the  place  of 
the  engagement,  sighted  the  "Sissoi  Veliky"  at  a 
point  some  thirty  miles  north-east  of  Karasaki.  She 
had  been  struck  by  torpedoes  the  night  before,  and 
was  now  on  the  point  of  sinking.  They  made  prepara- 
tions for  capturing  her,  and  took  off  her  crew.  She 
went  down,  however,  at  1 1.6  a.m.  Again,  at  5.30  a.m., 
the  destroyer  *'Shiranui"  and  the  special  service 
steamer  **Sado  Maru"  found  the  "Admiral  Nakhimoff  " 
in  a  sinking  condition  some  five  miles  east  of  Kotozaki 
in  Tsushima.  Thereafter  they  sighted  the  "Vladimir 
Monomakh"  approaching  the  same  neighbourhood  with 
a  heavy  list.  The  "  Sado  Maru"  took  measures  for 
capturing  both  these  ships,  but  they  were  so  greatly 


330  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT   OF 

shattered  and  were  making  water  so  fast,  that  they 
sank  in  succession  about  lo  a.m.,  after  their  crews 
had  been  removed.  Just  then  the  enemy's  destroyer 
"Gromky"  came  to  the  same  neighbourhood,  and 
suddenly  steamed  off  northward.  The  destroyer  "  Shi- 
ranui"wentin  pursuit, and  about  1 1.30  a.m.  attacked  her, 
No.  63,  a  unit  of  the  torpedo-boat  sections,  co-operating 
in  the  attack.  The  enemy's  fire  having  been  silenced, 
the  destroyer  was  captured  and  her  crew  were  made 
prisoners,  but  her  injuries  were  so  severe  that  she 
sank  at  12.43  p.m.  In  addition  to  the  above,  the  gun- 
boats and  special  service  steamers  of  our  fleet,  searching 
the  coasts  in  the  neighbourhood  after  the  battle,  picked 
up  not  a  few  of  the  crews  of  the  sunken  ships.  In- 
cluding the  crews  of  the  captured  vessels,  the  prisoners 
aggregated  about  six  thousand. 

The  above  are  the  results  of  the  battle,  which  con- 
tinued from  the  afternoon  of  the  27th  till  the  afternoon 
of  the  28th.  Subsequently  a  part  of  the  fleet  conducted 
a  search  far  southwards,  but  not  a  sign  was  seen  of  any 
of  the  enemy's  ships.  About  thirty-eight  of  his  vessels 
had  attempted  to  pass  the  Sea  of  Japan,  and  of  these 
the  ships  that  I  believe  to  have  escaped  destruction  or 
capture  at  our  hands  were  limited  to  a  few  cruisers, 
destroyers,  and  special  service  steamers.  Our  own 
losses  in  the  two  days'  fight  were  only  three  torpedo 
boats.  Some  others  of  our  vessels  sustained  more  or 
less  injury,  but  not  even  one  of  them  is  incapacitated 
for  future  service.  Our  casualties  throughout  the  whole 
fleet  were  n6  killed  and  538  wounded,  officers  being 
included,  as  shown  in  the  detailed  list  appended. 

There  was  no  great  difference  in  the  strengths  of  the 
opposing  forces  in  this  action,  and  I  consider  that  the 
enemy's  officers  and  men  fought  with  the  utmost  energy 
and  intrepidity  on  behalf  of  their  country.  If,  neverthe- 
less, our  combined  squadrons  won  the  victory  and 
achieved  the  remarkable  success  recorded  above,  it  was 


THE   BATTLE   OF  THE    SEA   OF  JAPAN      331 

because  of  the  virtues  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  not 
owing  to  any  human  prowess.  It  cannot  but  be  be- 
lieved that  the  small  number  of  our  casualties  was  due 
to  the  protection  of  the  spirits  of  the  Imperial  ances- 
tors. Even  our  officers  and  men,  who  fought  so 
valiantly  and  so  stoutly,  seeing  these  results,  found  no 
language  to  express  their  astonishment. 

COMPARATIVE   STATEMENT— THE   ENEMY'S   SHIPS   AND 
THEIR   FATE 

I.  Battleships,  eight  ;  whereof  six  were  sunk  (the 
"Kniaz  Suvaroff,"  the  "Alexander  III,"  the  "Boro- 
dino," the  "Oslyabya,"  the  "  Sissoi  Veliky,"  and  the 
"  Navarin  "),  and  two  were  captured  (the  "Orel"  and 
the  "Nikolai  I"). 

II.  Cruisers,  nine ;  whereof  four  were  sunk  (the 
"Admiral  Nakhimoff,"  the  "Dmitri  Donskoi,"  the 
"Vladimir  Monomakh,"  and  the  "  Svietlana  ") ;  three 
fled  to  Manila,  and  were  interned  (the  "Aurora,"  the 
"Oleg,"  and  the  "Jemchug")  ;  one  escaped  to  Vladi- 
vostock  (the  "  Almaz "),  and  one  became  a  wreck  in 
Vladimir  Bay  (the  "  Izumrud"). 

III.  Coast  defence  ships,  three  ;  whereof  one  was 
sunk  (the  "Admiral  Oushakoff")  and  two  were  cap- 
tured (the  "Admiral  Apraxine "  and  the  "Admiral 
Seniavin  "). 

Destroyers,  nine ;  whereof  four  were  sunk  (the 
"Buini,"  the  "Buistri,"  the  "Gromky,"  and  one 
other);  one  captured  (the  "  Byedovi  ") ;  one  went 
down  on  account  of  her  injuries  when  attempting  to 
reach  Shanghai  (the  "  Blestyaschtchi ") ;  one  fled  to 
Shanghai,  and  was  disarmed  (the  "  Bodri ")  ;  one 
escaped  to  Vladivostock  (the  "  Bravi  "),  and  the  fate  of 
one  is  unknown. 

IV.  Auxiliary  cruiser,  one ;  which  was  sunk  (the 
"Ural"). 


332  ADMIRAL   TOGO'S    REPORT 

V.  Special  service  steamers,  six  ;  whereof  four  were 
sunk  (the  "Kamchatka,"  the  "litis,"  the  "Anastney," 
and  the  "  Russi  ")  ;  and  two  fled  to  Shanghai,  where 
they  were  interned  (the  "  Kovea"  and  the  *'  Sveri "). 

VI.  Hospital  ships,  two  ;  which  were  both  seized, 
one  (the  "Kastroma")  being  subsequently  released, 
and  the  other  (the  "  Orel  ")  made  prize  of  war. 

RECAPITULATION— THIRTY-EIGHT   SHIPS 

Twenty  sunk. 

Six  captured. 

Two  went  to  the  bottom  or  were  shattered  while 
escaping. 

Six  disarmed  and  interned  after  flight  to  neutral 
ports. 

One  fate  unknown. 

One  released  after  capture. 

Two  escaped. 


No.   II 

TREATY  OF  PEACE   OF  PORTSMOUTH 

Sa  Majeste  I'Empereur  de  Toutes  les  Russies,  d'une 
part,  et  Sa  Majeste  I'Empereur  du  Japon,  d'autre  part, 
etant  animes  du  desir  de  retablir  les  bienfaits  de  la  paix 
pour  leurs  pays  et  pour  leurs  peuples,  ont  decide  de  con- 
clure  un  Traite  de  Paix  et  ont  nomme  a  cet  effet  leurs 
Plenipotentiaires,  savoir: 

Sa  Majeste  I'Empereur  de  Russie,  son  Excellence  M. 
Serge  Witte,  Son  Secretaire  d'Etat  et  President  du 
Comite  des  Ministres  de  I'Empire  de  Russie,  et  son 
Excellence  le  Baron  Roman  Rosen,  Maitre  de  la  Cour 
Imperiale  de  Russie  et  son  Ambassadeur  Extraor- 
dinaire et  Plenipotentiaire  aupres  des  Etats-Unis 
d'Amerique  ;  et 

Sa  Majeste  I'Empereur  du  Japon,  son  Excellence  le 
Baron  Komura  lutaro,  lusammi.  Grand  Cordon  de 
rOrdre  Imperial  du  Soleil  Levant,  son  Ministre  des 
Affaires  Etrangeres  ;  et  son  Excellence  Mr.  Takahira 
Kogoro,  lusammi.  Grand  Cordon  de  I'Ordre  Imperial 
du  Tresor  Sacre,  son  Envoye  Extraordinaire  et  Ministre 
Plenipotentiaire  aupres  Etats-Unis  d'Amerique  ; 

Lesquels,  apres  avoir  echange  leurs  pleins  pouvoirs, 
trouves  en  bonne  et  due  forme,  ont  conclu  les  Articles 
suivants  : — 

ARTICLE   I 

II  y  aura  a  I'avenir  paix  et  amitie  entre  leurs  Majestes 
I'Empereur  de  Toutes  les  Russies  et  I'Empereur  du 
Japon,  ainsi  qu'entre  leurs  Etats  et  sujets  respectifs. 

333 


334      TREATY   OF   PEACE   OF   PORTSMOUTH 
ARTICLE   II 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  de  Russie,  reconnaissant 
que  le  Japon  possede  en  Coree  des  interets  predomin- 
ants  politiques,  militaires  et  economiques,  s'engage  a  ne 
point  intervenir,  ni  mettre  d'obstacles  aux  mesures  de 
direction,  de  protection  et  de  controle  que  le  Gouverne- 
ment Imperial  du  Japon  pourrait  considerer  necessaire 
de  prendre  en  Coree. 

II  est  entendu  que  les  sujets  Russes  en  Coree  seront 
traites  exactement  de  la  meme  maniere  que  les  ressortis- 
sants  des  autres  pays  etrangers,  a  savoir,  qu'ils  seront 
places  sur  le  meme  pied  que  les  ressortissants  de  la 
nation  la  plus  favorisee. 

II  est  de  meme  convenu  que  pour  eviter  toute  cause 
de  malentendu,  les  deux  Hautes  Parties  Contractantes 
s'abstiendront,  sur  la  frontiere  Russo-Coreenne,  de 
prendre  toute  mesure  militaire  qui  pourrait  menacer  la 
securite  du  territoire  Russe  ou  Coreen. 

ARTICLE    III 

La  Russie  et  le  Japon  s'engagent  mutuellement — 

I".  A  evacuer  completement  et  simultanement  la 
Mandchourie,  a  I'exception  du  territoire  sur  lequel 
s'etend  le  bail  de  la  presqu'ile  de  Liao-toung,  con- 
formement  aux  dispositions  de  I'Article  Additionnel  P' 
annexe  a  ce  Traite  ;  et 

2.  Restituer  entierement  et  completement  a  I'adminis- 
tration  exclusive  de  la  Chine  toutes  les  parties  de  la 
Mandchourie  qui  sont  occupees  maintenant  par  les 
troupes  Russes  et  Japonaises,  ou  qui  sont  sous  leur 
controle,  a  I'exception  du  territoire  susmentionne. 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  de  Russie  declare  qu'il 
n'a  point  en  Mandchourie  d'avantages  territoriaux  ou 
concessions  preferentielles  ou  exclusives  de  nature  a 
porter  atteinte  a  la  souverainete  de  la  Chine  ou  incom- 
patibles  avec  le  principe  d'opportunite  egale. 


TREATY  OF  PEACE  OF  PORTSMOUTH   335 

ARTICLE  IV^ 
La  Russia  et  le  Japon  s'engagent  reciproquement  a 
ne  mettre  aucun  obstacle  aux  mesures  generales  qui 
s'appliquent  egalement  a  toutes  les  nations  et  que  la 
Chine  pourrait  prendre  pour  le  developpement  du  com- 
merce et  de  I'industrie  en  Mandchourie. 

ARTICLE   V 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  de  Russie  cede  au 
Gouvernement  Imperial  du  Japon,  avec  le  consente- 
ment  du  Gouvernement  de  Chine,  le  bail  de  Port 
Arthur,  de  Talien  et  des  territoires  et  eaux  territoriales 
adjacents,  ainsi  que  tous  les  droits,  privileges  et  conces- 
sions se  rattachant  a  ce  bail  ou  en  faisant  partie,  et  il  cede, 
de  meme,  au  Gouvernement  Imperial  du  Japon  tous  les 
travaux  et  proprietes  publics  dans  le  territoire  sur  lequel 
s'etend  le  bail  susmentionne. 

Les  deux  Hautes  Parties  Contractantes  s'eng-ag-ent 
mutuellement  a  obtenir  du  Gouvernement  de  Chine  le 
consentement  mentionne  dans  la  stipulation  ci-dessus. 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  du  Japon  donne  de  sa 
part  I'assurance  que  les  droits  de  propriete  des  sujets 
Russes  dans  le  territoire  susmentionne  seront  parfaite- 
ment  respectes. 

ARTICLE   VI 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  de  Russie  s'engage  a  ceder 
au  Gouvernement  Imperial  du  Japon,  sans  compensa- 
tion, avec  le  consentement  du  Gouvernement  de  Chine, 
le  Chemin  de  Per  Tchan-Tchoun  (Kouan-Tchien-Tsy) 
et  Port  Arthur  et  tous  ses  embranchements  avec  tous 
les  droits,  privileges,  et  proprietes  y  appartenant  dans 
cette  region,  ainsi  que  toutes  les  mines  de  charbon  dans 
ladite  region,  appartenant  a  ce  chemin  de  fer  ou  en 
exploitation  pour  son  profit. 

Les  deux  Hautes  Parties  Contractantes  s'engagent 
mutuellement  a  obtenir  du  Gouvernement  de  Chine  le 
consentement  mentionne  dans  la  stipulation  ci-dessus. 


336      TREATY   OF   PEACE   OF    PORTSMOUTH 
ARTICLE   VII 

La  Russie  et  le  Japon  s'engagent  a  exploiter  leurs 
chemins  de  fer  respectifs  en  Mandchourie  exclusive- 
ment  dans  un  but  commercial  et  industriel,  mais  nulle- 
ment  dans  un  but  strategique. 

II  est  entendu  que  cette  restriction  ne  s'applique  pas 
aux  chemins  de  fer  dans  le  territoire  sur  lequel  s'etend 
le  bail  de  la  presqu'ile  de  Liao-toung. 

ARTICLE   VIII 

Les  Gouvernements  Imperiaux  de  Russie  et  du 
Japon,  en  vue  de  favoriser  et  de  faciliter  les  relations 
et  le  trafic,  concluront,  aussitot  que  possible,  une  Con^ 
vention  separee,  pour  le  reglement  de  leurs  services  de 
raccordement  de  chemins  de  fer  en  Mandchourie. 

ARTICLE   IX 

Le  Gouvernement  Imperial  de  Russie  cede  au 
Gouvernement  Imperial  du  Japon  en  perpetuite  et  en 
pleine  souverainete  la  partie  sud  de  I'ile  de  Sakhaline 
et  toutes  les  iles  qui  y  sont  adjacentes,  ainsi  que  tous 
les  travaux  et  proprietes  publics  qui  s'y  trouvent.  Le 
cinquantieme  parallele  de  latitude  nord  est  adopte 
comma  la  limite  du  territoire  cede.  La  ligne-frontiere 
exacte  de  ce  territoire  sera  determinee  conformement 
aux  dispositions  de  I'Article  Additionnel  II  annexe  a  ce 
Traite. 

Le  Japon  et  la  Russie  conviennent  mutuellement  de 
ne  construire  dans  leurs  possessions  respectives  sur  Tile 
de  Sakhaline  et  sur  les  iles  qui  y  sont  adjacentes  aucune 
fortification  ni  travaux  militaires  semblables.  De  meme, 
ils  s'engagent  respectivement  a  ne  prendre  aucune 
mesure  militaire  qui  pourrait  entraver  la  libre  naviga- 
tion des  Detroits  de  La  Perouse  et  de  Tartarie. 


TREATY   OF   PEACE    OF   PORTSMOUTH       337 
ARTICLE   X 

II  est  reserve  aux  sujets  Russes  habitants  du  territoire 
cede  au  Japon  de  vendre  leurs  proprietes  immobilieres 
at  de  se  retirer  dans  leur  pays  ;  mais,  s'ils  preferent 
tester  dans  le  territoire  cede,  ils  seront  maintenus  et 
proteges  dans  le  plein  exercice  de  leurs  industries  et 
droits  de  propriete,  a  la  condition  de  se  soumettre  aux 
lois  et  a  la  juridiction  Japonaises.  Le  Japon  aura  la 
pleine  liberte  de  retirer  le  droit  de  residence  dans  ce 
territoire  a  tous  les  habitants  se  trouvant  dans  I'in- 
capacite  politique  ou  administrative,  ou  de  les  de- 
porter  de  ce  territoire,  II  s'engage  toutefois  a  ce  que 
les  droits  de  propriete  de  ces  habitants  soient  pleine- 
ment  respectes. 

ARTICLE   XI 

La  Russie  s'engage  a  s'entendre  avec  le  Japon  pour 
conceder  aux  sujets  Japonais  des  droits  de  peche  le  long 
des  cotes  des  possessions  Russes  dans  les  Mers  du 
Japon,  d'Okhotsk  et  de  Behring. 

II  est  convenu  que  I'engagement  susmentionne  ne 
portera  pas  atteinte  aux  droits  deja  appartenant  aux 
sujets  Russes  ou  etrangers  dans  ces  regions. 

ARTICLE   XII 

Le  Traite  de  Commerce  et  de  Navigation  entre  la 
Russie  et  le  Japon  ayant  ete  annule  par  la  guerre,  les 
Gouvernements  Imperiaux  de  Russie  et  du  Japon 
s'engagent  a  adopter,  comme  base  de  leurs  relations 
commerciales,  jusqu'a  la  conclusion  d'un  nouveau  Traite 
de  Commerce  et  de  Navigation,  sur  la  base  du  Traite 
qui  etait  en  vigueur  anterieurement  a  la  guerre  actuelle, 
le  systeme  du  raitement  reciproque  sur  le  pied  de  la 
nation  la  plus  favorisee,  y  compris  les  tarifs  d'importa- 
tion  et  d'exportation,  les  formalites  de  douane,  les  droits 
de  transit  et  de  tonnage,  et  I'admission  et  le  traitement 
des  agents,  des  sujets  et  des  vaisseaux  d'un  pays 
dans  le  territoire  de  I'autre. 
z 


338      TREATY   OF    PP:ACE   OF   PORTSMOUTH 
ARTICLE   XIII 

Aussitot  que  possible  apres  la  mise  en  vigueur  du 
present  Traite,  tous  les  prisonniers  de  guerre  seront 
reciproquement  restitues.  Les  Gouvernements  Im- 
periaux  de  Russie  et  du  Japon  nommeront,  chacun  de 
son  cote,  un  Commissaire  Special  qui  se  chargera  des 
prisonniers.  Tous  les  prisonniers  se  trouvant  entre  les 
mains  de  I'un  des  Gouvernements  seront  remis  au 
Commissaire  de  I'autre  Gouvernement,  ou  a  son  repre- 
sentant,  dument  autorise,  qui  les  recevra  en  tel  nombre 
et  dans  tels  ports  convenables  de  I'Etat  remettant  que 
ce  dernier  aura  notifie  d'avance  au  Commissaire  de 
I'Etat  recevant. 

Les  Gouvernements  de  Russie  et  du  Japon  pre- 
senteront  I'un  a  I'autre,  le  plus  tot  possible  apres  que  la 
remise  des  prisonniers  aura  ete  achevee,  un  compte 
documente  des  depenses  directes  faites  respectivement 
par  eux  pour  le  soin  et  I'entretien  des  prisonniers 
depuis  la  date  de  la  capture  ou  de  la  reddition  jusqu'a 
celle  de  la  mort  ou  de  la  remise.  La  Russie  s'engage 
a  rembourser  au  Japon,  aussitot  que  possible  apres 
I'echange  de  ces  comptes,  comme  il  est  stipule  ci-dessus, 
la  difference  entre  le  montant  reel  ainsi  depense  par  le 
Japon  et  le  montant  reel  egalement  debourse  par  la 
Russie. 

ARTICLE   XIV 

Le  present  Traite  sera  ratifie  par  leurs  Majectes 
I'Empereur  de  Toutes  les  Russies  et  I'Empereur  du 
Japon.  Cette  ratification  sera,  dans  le  plus  bref  delai 
possible,  et  en  tous  cas  pas  plus  tard  que  dans  cinqu- 
ante  jours  a  partir  de  la  date  de  la  signature  du  Traite, 
notifiee  aux  Gouvernements  Imperiaux  de  Russie  et  du 
Japon  respectivement,  par  I'intermediaire  de  I'Ambas- 
sadeur  des  Etats-Unis  d'Amerique  a  Saint-Petersbourg 
et  du  Ministre  de  France  a  Tokio,  et  a  partir  de  la  date 


TREATY   OF   PEACE    OF   PORTSMOUTH       339 

de  la  derniere  de  ces  notifications  ce  Traite  entrera, 
dans  toutes  ses  parties,  en  pleine  vigueur. 

L'echange  formal  des  ratifications  se  fera  a  Washing- 
ton aussitot  que  possible. 

ARTICLE   XV 

Le  present  Traite  sera  signe  en  double  :  en  langues 
Fran9aise  et  Anglaise.  Les  deux  textes  sont  absolu- 
ment  conformes  ;  mais,  en  cas  de  divergence  d'inter- 
pretation,  le  texte  Fran9ais  fera  foi. 

En  foi  de  quoi  les  Plenipotentiaires  respectifs  ont 
signe  et  scelle  de  leurs  sceaux  le  present  Traite  de 
Paix. 

Fait  a  Portsmouth  (New  Hampshire)  le  23  Aout 
(5  Septembre)  de  I'an  1905,  correspondant  au  5^  jour  du 
9®  mois  de  la  38®  annee  de  Meidji. 

(L.S.)  (Sign^)  lUTARO  KOMURA. 

(L.S.)  (Sign^)  K.  TAKAHIRA. 

(L.S.)  (Sign^)  SERGE  WITTE. 

(L.S.)  (Sign^)  ROSEN. 

Conformement  aux  dispositions  des  Articles  III  et  IX 
du  Traite  de  Paix  entre  la  Russie  et  le  Japon  en  date  de 
ce  jour,  les  Plenipotentiaires  soussignes  ont  conclu  les 
Articles  additionnels  suivants  : — 

I.  Ad  Article  III. 

Les  Gouvernements  Imperiaux  de  Russie  et  du  Japon 
s'engagent  mutuellement  a  commencer  le  retrait  de  leurs 
forces  militaires  du  territoire  de  la  Mandchourie  simul- 
tanement  et  immediatement  apres  la  mise  en  vigueur 
du  Traite  de  Paix  ;  et  dans  une  periode  de  dix-huit 
mois  a  partir  de  cette  date  les  armees  des  deux  Puis- 
sances seront  completement  retirees  de  la  Mandchourie, 
a  I'exception  du  territoire  a  bail  de  la  presqu'ile  de 
Liao-toung. 


340   TREATY  OF  PEACE  OF  PORTSMOUTH 

Les  forces  des  deux  Puissances  occupant  les  positions 
frontales  seront  retirees  les  premieres. 

Les  Hautes  Parties  Contractantes  se  reservent  le 
droit  de  maintenir  des  gardes  pour  proteger  leurs 
lignes  de  chemins  de  fer  respectives  en  Mandchourie. 

Le  nombre  de  ces  gardes  n'excedera  pas  quinze 
hommes  par  kilometre  ;  et,  dans  la  limite  de  ce  nombre 
maximum,  les  Commandants  des  armees  Russes  et 
Japonaises  fixeront,  de  commun  accord,  le  nombre  des 
gardes  qui  seront  employes,  le  plus  minime  possible, 
conformement  aux  exigences  reelles. 

Les  Commandants  des  forces  Russes  et  Japonaises 
en  Mandchourie  s'entendront  sur  tous  les  details  relatifs 
a  I'execution  de  I'evacuation  conformement  aux  prin- 
cipes  ci-dessus  enumeres  et  prendront,  de  commun 
accord,  les  mesures  necessaires  pour  effectuer  I'evacua- 
tion aussitot  que  possible,  et  en  tout  cas  pas  plus  tard 
que  dans  la  periode  de  dix-huit  mois. 

2.  Ad  Article  IX. 

Aussitot  que  possible  apres  la  mise  en  vigueur  du 
present  Traite  une  Commission  de  Delimitation,  com- 
posee  de  nombre  egal  de  membres  qui  seront  nommes 
respectivement  par  les  deux  Hautes  Parties  Contrac- 
tantes, marquera  sur  les  lieux,  d'une  maniere  perma- 
nente,  la  ligne  exacte  entre  les  possessions  Russes  et 
Japonaises  de  I'lle  de  Sakhaline.  La  Commission  sera 
tenue,  autant  que  les  considerations  topographiques  le 
permettront,  a  suivre  le  cinquantieme  parallele  de  lati- 
tude nord  pour  la  ligne  de  demarcation,  et  dans  le  cas 
ou  des  deviations  de  la  dite  ligne  sur  quelques  points 
seront  trouvees  necessaires,  compensation  en  sera  faite 
par  des  deviations  correlatives  sur  d'autres  points.  II 
sera  de  meme  le  devoir  de  la  dite  Commission  de  pre- 
parer une  liste  et  description  des  lies  adjacentes  qui 
seront  comprises  dans  la  cession,  et  finalement  la  Com- 
mission preparera  et  signera  les  cartes  constatant  les 


TREATY  OF  PEACE  OF  PORTSMOUTH   341 

limites  du  territoire  cede.  Les  travaux  de  la  Commis- 
sion seront  soumis  a  I'approbation  des  Hautes  Parties 
Contractantes. 

Les  Articles  Additionnels  mentionnes  ci-dessus  seront 
consideres  comme  ratifies  par  la  ratification  du  Traite 
de  Paix,  auquel  ils  sont  annexes. 

Portsmouth,  le  23  Aout  (5  Septembre),  1905,  corre- 
spondant  au  5°  jour,  9®  mois,  38°  annee  de  Meidji. 

(Signe)         lUTARO  KOMURA. 
K.  TAKAHIRA. 
SERGE  WITTE. 
ROSEN. 


No.  Ill 

THE   GARTER   MISSION 

Members  of  the  Mission  carrying  the  Order  of   the 
Garter  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan  : 

His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught,  K.G. 

Lord  Redesdale,  g.c.v.o. 

Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir  Edward  Seymour,  g.c.b.,  o.m. 

General  Sir  Thomas  Kelly-Kenny,  g.c.b. 

Colonel  (now  Sir)  Arthur  Davidson,  k.c.v.o. 

Captain  Wyndham,  Equerry  to  Prince  Arthur. 

Mr.  Miles  Lampson,  Secretary  to  the  Mission. 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Lord,  63 
Abraham,  12 
Adam  Peak,  the,  45 
Adams,  Will,  84 
Aden,  16-19 

"Admiral  Apraxine,"  the,  166 
"Admiral  Machinofif,"  the,  166 
"Admiral  Ouchakoff,"  the,  166 
"Admiral  Seniavine,"  the,  166 
Africa,  South,  58 
Agra,  27-33 
Ahriman,  23 
Ahuro  Mazdao,  23 
"Akagi,"the,  84 
Akhbar  Khan,  32 
Alexander  the  Great,  12 
Alexicff,  Admiral,  179,   185,  21 

216 
"Almaz,"  the,  166 
Ama-terasu,  91,  92 
American  (language),  the,  312 
Amsden,  Miss,  150 
"Analogy  of  Religion,"  70 
Ancestor  worship,  68,  6g,  80 
Annihilation,  ^^^ 
Antony,  Mark,  12 
Antung,  229,  239 

„        Japanese   hospitality  i 


■^<■^.^-'> 


231 

"Arc  de  Triomphe,"'  the,  3 
"Areca  Nut  People,"  the,  50 
Arjumand  Banu  Begam,  28 
Aryan  Pali,  the,  47 
Ashikaga,  the,  107 
Asia,  39 


Aston,  Mr.  W.  G.,  79,  260,  261 

Atsuta,  267 

"Attachd  in  Peking,"  81 

Aurientis,  le  Pere,  109 

Aurungzebe,  28 

Australia,  58 

Austria,  the  Empress  of,  279 

Awaji,  the  island  of,  91 

Babu  Shadra  Sen,  36 

Bactrians,  the,  23 

"  Banlieue,"  la,  2 

Baths,  Japanese,  250 

Bartlett,  Ashmead,  207 

Barri,  General,  180 

Benares,  33-8,  71 

"  Bellone,"  the,  26 

Bells,  iio-ii 

"Bento,"  118 

Bennett,  Mr.,  295 

Biwa,  the  lake  of,  1 1 2,  267 

Bizen,  90 

Blake,  Sir  Henry,  48 

Bogambrawewa  Tank,  the,  45 

Bombay,  20-4 

Bonar,  Mr.,  89,  150 

Bouillet,  7 

Boulevards,  the,  2 

Bourdaloue,  35 

Boxers,  the,  228 

Brahmins,  the,  34,  36,  yj 

Bronze  work,  1 1 1 

Briinner,  Mr.,  246 

Buddha,  the,  no 

„  „    of  Nara,  1 10 


343 


344 


FROM    WEST   TO    EAST 


Buddha,  the,  of  Kamakura,  II2 
„  „     tooth  of,  45 

„        Gautama,  the,  47 

Buddhas,  the,  71,  72,  78 
„         colossal,  no 

Buddhism,  68,  72,  80,  146,  262 
„         modern  Japanese,  76-9 

Buland  Darwayan,  the,  33 

Burhanpur,  28 

"  Bushido,"  226,  286  ei  seq. 

Butler,  Captain,  157 

Byng,  Admiral,  189 

Cairo,  12 

Calcutta,  38-44 

Canada,  58 

Canton,  61-64 

Carlsbad,  60 

Caste,  34,  37 

Catherine  de  Medici,  8 

Ceres,  the  goddess,  72 

Ceylon,  44-49 

„        planters,  47,  48 

Chamberlain,  Basil  Hall,  57,  68, 
72,  11,  87,  98,  140 

Chandni  Chauk,  the,  27 

Chao,  Tartar  Governor  of  Muk- 
den, 223-4 

Chateaubriand,  70 

Chemulpo,  236,  237 

Christ  a  Buddhist  saint,  75 

Chicago,  300-7 

„         origin  of  name,  303 

„         number   of  inhabitants, 

303 

„     the  stockyards  of,  305 
Chikara,  134 
Chinese,  the,  54,  62,  64,  215 

„        struggle  with  the  Japan- 
ese, 225 
Chu-ai-Tenno,  a  Mikado,  250-261 
Cingalese,  the,  47 
Cho-Densu,  123 
Clemenceau,  M.,  5 
Clement  VII,  Pope,  8 
Cleopatra,  12 
Cobden,  59 


Coffee  planting,  48 

Colombo,  48 

"  Collective  Socialism,"  4 

"  Compact  of  Marseilles,"  the,  8 

Confucius,  79 

Coolie  emigration,  63 

Coolies,  the  Chinese,  65 

„        the  Indian,  36,  44 
Connaught,  Prince  Arthur  of,  49, 

52,  56,  60,  107,  117 
Coruda,  Mr.,  247 
Cowley,  Lord,  3 1 1 
Crane,  the,  265 

Creoles,  the  hostility  of  the,  51 
Cromer,  Lord,  253,  255 
Cryptomeria,  avenue  of,  141 
Curtis,  Mr.  W.  E.,  35 
Customs  duties,  21 

Dai  Butsu,  the,  iio-ii,  153 
Daimyos,  the,  147 
Daiya,  the  River,  142 
Dalny,  168-72,  216 

„       evacuation  of,  169 
Darius,  14 
Daveluy,  252 
Dazaifu,  92 
Delhi,  24-7 

Deluge,  traditions  of  the,  268 
Demoulin,  Joseph,  19 
Deshima,  85 

"  Dimitri  Donskoi,''  the  166 
"Djighit,"  the,  186 
Dragomiroff,  General,  189 
Dumas,  Alexandre,  1 1 1 
Duperre,  Commander,  26 
Durance,  la,  8 
Dutch,  the,  51,  53 

„        „     in  Japan,  85 

Edward  III,  King,  49 

„        VII,  King,  42,  49 
Egypt,  9,  13 
Egyptians,  the,  15 
Ehrlung,  197 
Elgin,  Lord,  127 


INDEX 


345 


"Emperor  Alexander  III,"   the, 

165,  166 
Empire,  the  British  Colonial,  57 
Englishman,  Japanese  definition 

of  an,  74 
Essen,  Captain  von,  177 

Family,  the  Holy,  12 
Fatehpur  Sikri,  32 
Fenghuangchen,  231 
Foote,  Samuel,  18 
France,  4-6 
Francis  I,  8 
Eraser,  Mrs.  H.,  159 
Fugi,  269-71 

Fuji  San,  the  volcano,  113 
"  Fukui  Maru,"  the,  i  "]•] 
Fukuyama,  265 
Fukuzawa  Yukichi,  96 
Fusan,  254,  258 

Gabato,  229 

Garden,  Count  Iwasaki's,  273-5 

Gardens,  the  Peradeniya,  45 

Gate,  the  Cashmere,  23 

"  Golden  Gate,"  the,  294 

Garter  Mission,  the,  49,  53,  55 

"  Genie  du  Christianisme  "  le,  70 

Geography,  Dictionary  of,  7 

George  Town,  52 

Germany,  the  Empress  Augusta 

of,  280 
Gibraltar,  54 
Gods,  the  elemental,  72 

„      the  mythological,  71 
"  Gokuraku,"  76 
Golden  Hill,  177,  202 
Golfe  de  Lion,  the,  7 
Goshen,  12 
Griffis,  W.  E.,  256 
"Gromoboi,"  the,  178 
Gros,  Baron,  127 
"  Grozni,"  the,  166 

"  Hall  of  a  Thousand  Mats,"  the, 
263 


Hamilton,  Mr.  Angus,  254 
„  Sir  Ian,  234,  247 

Hanyang  {see  Seoul) 
Hara-kiri,  133,  134,  135 

„  description  of,  152 

Hassan  Shah,  54 
Hassegawa,  Marshal,  253 
Hastings,  the  Marquis  of,  53 
Hawkins,  Mr.,  281,  282 
Hayashi,  General,  243 
Hearn,  Lafcadio,  76,  92,  94,  100, 

103,  131,  159 
"  Heavens  of  Desire,"  the,  6,  77 
Helps,  Sir  Arthur,  55 
Henry  II  (of  France),  8 
Henry  VIII,  8 
Herod,  12 
Herodotus,  12 
Hidari  Jingoro,  144 
Hideyoshi,  97,  262 
Hill,  203  Metre,    177,    180,    183, 

184,  186,  189,  190,  193 
Hindoo  practices,  34-7 
Hiogo,  152 
Hirose,    Commander,    177,    178, 

191 
Hirans  springs,  94 
"  Hitachi  Maru,"  the,  200 
Hodson,  27 
Hokkaido,  90 
Hokusai,  123,  124,  270 
Honduras,  95 
Hong-Kong,  55-61 
Honolulu,  290-4 

„         an  American  city,  292 
,,  scenery  in,  293 

Hoshiptsaio,  173 
Hotel,  the  Cecil,  24 
Hunshaling,  218 

Iditi,  General,  179,  180,  190 
lemitsu,  141,  146,  148,  263 
leyasu,  141,  144,  146,  148,  262 
"  Ilbert  Bill,"  the,  43 
India,  British  administration  in, 

36,  38,  40,  42 
India,  loyalty  in,  42 


346 


FROM    WEST  TO    EAST 


Indians,  the,  41 

Indian  society,  40 

Iki,  the  island  of,  163 

Ikihara,  General,  243 

"Ise,"9i 

Ise,  the  Goddess,  72 

Ito,  the  Marquis,  253,  255 

Iwasaki,  Count,  273 

"Iwati,"  the,  178 

Iwoshima,  83 

lyeyatsu,  287 

Izanage,  79 

"  Izumi,"  the,  163 

"  Izumrud,"  the,  166,  167 

Jacob,  12 

Jahangir,  33 

Japan,  39,  49 

„      the  religion  of,  68 

„      the  inland  sea  of,  90 

,,      the  population  of,  95 

„      the  mint  of,  96 

„      Western  influence  on,  97 

„      trade  in,  97,  99 

„      foreigners  in,  loi 

„      old  capital  of,  102 

„      trains  in,  109 

„      change  of  capital  of,  1 26 

„      Dutch  view  of,  127 

„      modern  capital  of,  128 

„      the  English  language  in, 

137 
„      educational  establishments 

in,  138 
„      ardour   for  education    m, 

139 
„      schools  in,  139 
„      universities  in,  140 
„      trees  in,  142 
„      closed  to  foreigners,  147 
„      sudden    consolidation    of, 

147,  148 
„      the  Sea  of,  159,  162,  168 
„      Europe's  conduct  towards, 

in  1864,  160 
„      intercepts  Russian  fleet,  1 36 
„      friendship  for  England,  170 


Japan,  antiquity  of,  179 

„      acknowledges  bravery   of 

the  Russians,  204 
„      intelligence  and  courage  of 

their     private     soldiers, 

205-9 
„      hatred  of  Russia,  210-35 
„      proud     of     victory     over 

Russia,  210 
„      not    scrupulously    honest, 

226-7 
,,      reasons  for  success  in  late 

war,  216-19 
„      Antung  of  special  value  to, 

233 
„      peace     with    Russia    not 

lasting,  235-9 
„      a    celebrated    garden    in, 

265 
„      Government     to     acquire 

railways,  266 
„      gardens  in, 275,  282 
„      the  Empress  of,  279-80 
Japanese   characteristics,    loo-i, 
130,  136,  148,  158,  161 
„         art,  122  et  seq.^  150 
„         the,      an      imperfectly 
known    people,    125- 
132 
„         trialof  patriotism,  129 
„         self-sacrifice,  130 
„         the  language,  137,  140 
„         students,  139 
„         superstition,  143 
„         suicide  among,  145 
„         idea  of  the   Westerns, 

147 
„         coloured  prints,  1 50 
„         love  of  children,  158 
„         diplomatic  skill  of,  235, 

246 
,,         politeness  of,  244 
„         preparedness    for    war, 

255 
,,        dogs,  264 
,,        women,  282  el  seq. 
„        independence  of  the,  287 


INDEX 


347 


Jaures,  M.,  5 
Jemitsu,  263 
"Jemtchug,"  166 
Jimmu  Tenn5,  the,  91 
Johore,  the  Suhan  of,  53 

"  Kagoshima,"  91 

Kamakura,    the    Dai     Butzu    of, 
111-12 

Kamimura,  Admiral,  178 

Kampfer,  Engelbert,  84,  130 

Kanaoka,  144 

Kandy,  45,  46 

Kano,  school  of  art,  123 

"  Kappure,"  the,  170 

Kataoka,  Vice-Admiral,  163 

Katsugoro,  92 

"  Kasagi,"  the,  84 

Kegon-no-taki,  the  waterfall  of,  145 

Keikwan,  East,  202 
„        North,  197 

Kelly  and  Walsh,  library  of,  119 

Khan  Lodi,  28 

Kioto,  124 

Kirby,  Mr.,  273 

Kirishima,  Mount,  91 

"  Kniaz  Suvaroff,"  the  165,  166 

Kobe,  88-94,  150-5,  259 

Kobo  Daishi,  the  saint,  263 

Koibe,  Captain,  180,  189 

Kondrachenko,  General,  176,  186, 
197 

Korea,  213,  214,  240  et  seq. 

„       excellent  harbours  in,  245 
„       fashions  in,  241,  242 
„       sacred  city  of,  243,  244 
„       cause  of  Russian  disasters 

in,  247 
„       hotels  in,  249 
„       conquest  of,  260 
Koreans,  275 

„       cruelty  of  the,  252 

„       despised  by  the  Japanese, 

255 
Kojima,  Colonel,  219 
"  Korietz,"  the,  236 
"Koryo  Maru,"  the,  176 


Kotsuke,  133 
Kumagai,  Colonel,  154 
Kuroki,  General,  229 
Kuropatkin,  188,  201,  204,  218 
Kusa-nagi,  a  famous  sword,  267 
Kwanchonwan,  168 
Kwatei  Taki,  123    124 
Kyoto,  102-8,  266 

Liaoyang,  218,  219 
"  L'ami  Marc,"  6 
Lanterns,  stone,  276 
Lasalle,  307 
Lay,  Mr.,  65 
Lepere,  13 
"Les  Incas,"  18 
Lessar,  M.  de,  245 
Lesseps,  M.  de,  13 
"  Le  Sillon,"  6 
Letumoff,  Captain,  186 
Li  Hung  Chang,  161 
Lloyd,  Captain  C.  V.,  61 
Longfellow,  71 
Loonen,  M.,  99 
Loti,  Pierre,  159 
Louis  XIV,  35 
Lyall,  Sir  A.,  37 

Maisaka,  268 

Makaroff,  Admiral,  175,  176 
!   Malacca,  51 

Malartic,  193 

Manchuria,  203,  212,  230 

„  an  outlet  for  Japanese 

population,  21 1 
„  evacuation  of,  215 

„  the  Chinese  in,  224, 

22  ? 
„  coal  mines  in,  231 

„  battlefields  in,  203 

Marat,  5 

Marmontel,  18 

Marseilles,  6-9 

"  Marseillaise,"  the,  S 

Masanubu,  the  artist,  123 

Matamura,  Mr.,  180 

Mauritius,  26,  5 1 


348 


FROM    WEST   TO    EAST 


Moin-ud-Din,  M.  U.,  30 

Memphis,  12 

Mikado,  the,  102,  179,  277,  279 
„        divine  origin  of  the,  79 
„        the  present,  106 
„        the  supreme  ruler,  127 
„        devotion  to,  135 

Mitford,  A.  B.  {see  Lord  Redes- 
dale) 

Miriam,  the  Sultana,  32,  33 

Missionaries,  67  ei seq.,  81,  261-3 

Misu,  Vice- Admiral,  178,  179 

Mihashi,  the,  142 

Miyajima,  the  island  of,  91,  263 

"  Meiji  Tenno,"  the,  277 

"  Modern  India,"  35 

Mohammedanism,  23 

Moji,  159,  160 

Montgomery,  71 

Monto,  68 

Murdoch,  Mr.,  261,  262 

Moses,  12 

Mori,  Mr.,  220 

Motonobu,  the  artist,  123 

Mukden,  202-9 

„         the  biggest  battle,  205 
„         the  town  of,  221-3 

Muntaz  Mahal,  28 

Mutiny,  the,  24,  27 

Mythological  tale,  a,  267 

"Nadas,"  the,  156 
Nagasaki,  82-8 

„         Count,  io8 
Nagoya,  11 2- 18 

„  the  pagoda  of,  114 

Nanshan,  173-8 

„         the  battle  of,  205-17 
Napoleon  I,  12,  14,  15 
Nara,  109-12,  276 
"  Navarin,"  the,  166 
Nirvana,  68,  76,  78,  80,  146 
Nathan,  Sir  M.,  59 
Nemura,  Mr.,  119 
"  Nereid,"  the,  26 
New  York,  309-13 
Niagara,  307-9 


Nichiren,  68 
Nicholson,  John,  25,  27 
"Nicholas  I,"  the,  166 
Nietzche,  80 
Nijo,  the  castle  of,  107 
Nikko,  1 4 1-9 

„      everything  of  merit  in,  145 
Ninigi,  91 

"  Nisshin,"  the,  165 
Nitobe,  M.  Inazo,  226 
"No.  5,"  the,  172 
Nogi,  General,  196 
Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde,  6 
"  Novik,"  the,  174 
"  Nue,"  the,  92 
Nevara  Elya,  46 

Obock,  17 

Ogden,  300 

Oishi     Kuranosuke,    the    Ronin, 

133 
Okabe,  Mr.,  205 
Okame,  General,  179 
Okinoshima,  167 
Okayama,  265 
Okitsu,  268-9 
Okubo,  Rear-Admiral,   168,   i6g, 

172 
Okuma,  Count,  272 
Okura,  Mr.,  272,  274 
"  Oleg,"  the,  166 
Ormuzd,  23 
^Oni,"  the,  92 
Ono,  the  village  of,  263 
Onna  Daigaku,  283 
Orders  in  Council,  95 
Osaka,  94-102 

„       the  castle  of,  97 
"Oslyabya,"  the,  165,  166 
"Orel,"  the,  166 
Oyama,  Marshal,  204 

Pali,  293 

Palgrave,  Clifford,  285 
"  Pallada,"  the,  191 
Paris,  15 
„      Comte  de,  the,  10 


INDEX 


349 


Parkes,  Sir  Harry,  128 

Parsee  funerals,  22 

Party,  a  cherry-blossom,  277-81 

Pavloff,  M.,  245,  247 

Pearl  mosques,  the,  32 
„     of  the  Indian  Ocean,  the,  45 
„      River,  the,  60 

Piniang,  240,  247 

Penang,  50-2 

Perry,  Commodore,  119,  147 

"  Persia,"  the,  18 

Perso-Iranians,  the,  23 

"  Petropavlovsk,"  the,  176 

Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  14 

Pigott,  Sir  F.,  59 

Pinto,  Mendes,  84 

"  Playing  with  Hre,"  42 

PHny,  14 

Plum  trees,  142 

"  Pobieda,"  the,  83 

Policy,  a,  suggested  world,  244 

Polo,  Marco,  84 

PortArthur,  136, 157,  169, 172-202 
„         shallow  entrance,  174 
„         entrance  never  blocked, 

175 
„         sunken  ships  at,  177 
,,         attempts  to  block,  178 
„         the  war  museum  at,  180 
„         the  Paiyushan  forts  at, 

181 
„         strength  of,  181  et  seq. 
„         the     Russian     Ostend, 

184,  185 

„         the    bombardment    of, 

185,  186 

„         capitulation  of,  188 
„         useless  to  Russia,  189 
„         the  dockyards  at,  191 
„         spoils  from,  192 
,,         siege  of,  194  et  seq. 
„         forts  at,  194-7 
„        Japanese  losses  at,  197 
„  „         tactics  at,  199 

„         anxiety     of     Japanese 

commanders,  200-1 
„         railway  terminus,  216 


Port  Arthur,  true  defence  of,  217 
,,  won  from  China,  235 

Port  Hamilton,  214,  245,  246 
Portsmouth,  Treaty  of,  211,  215, 

233.  235,  238,  239 
Port  Said,  9-12 
Powell,  Captain,  18 
Press,  the  American,  301-2 
Ptolemies,  the,  12 
Pulo- Penang,  50 

Racing,  1 15 

Raffles,  Sir  Stamford,  51,  53 

Railway,  the  Trans-Siberian,  169, 
216 

Rajah  Rai,  36 

"  Rakans,"  the,  123 

Rakiyah,  the  Sultana,  33 

Rameses,  12 

Raphael,  144 

Rebirth,  the  memory  of,  92 

Redesdale,  Lord,  81,  88,  127,  132, 
152 

Ripon,  Lord,  43 

Red  Sea,  the,  14 

Rentier,  Mr.,  90 

Roberts,  Lord,  25,  27,  37 

"  Robe  of  Feathers,"  the,  269 

Rochecouste,  M.  de,  26 

Rome,  ancient,  57 

Renins,  the,  128,  132-5 

"Rossia,"  the,  178 

Rouget  de  Lisle,  8 

Rozhdestvensky,  Admiral,  162 

Rubber  growing,  48 

Rubens,  144 

Ruhiya,  25 

"Rurik,"  the,  178 

Russia,  the  war  with,  136 
„       want  of  initiative,  173 
„       naval  disasters  of,  175-7 
,,       ambition  of,  184 
„       folly  of,  184-5 
„       Pacific  Squadron,  192-3 
„       needs  a  warm-water  port, 
212-15 

Russian  prisoners,  157 


J3 


!;o 


FROM   WEST   TO    EAST 


Saghalien,  236,  237 

Sayo,  91 

Sakharoff,  the  engineer,  168 

Sakya  Muni,  81 

Salisbury,  Lord,  189 

Sampans,  65 

Samurai  Chokai,  118 

Samurais,  the,  147,  196,  208,  209, 

226,  286 
San  Francisco,  288,  294  et  seq. 

„  the    disaster    at, 

296-8 
Sannoniya,  89 
Saoul  {see  Seoul) 
Satow,  Sir  Ernest,  76,  261 
Satsuma,  90 
"  Sawo,"  the,  83 
Schopenhauer,  80 
Scrope,  Mr.  Poulett,  298 
Sea,  the  Inland,  156 
Sea  of  Japan,  162,  164,  167 
Sea,  the  Red,  12 
Seijukuji,  the  temple  of,  152 
Sengakuji,  132,  134 
Seoul,  241,  247,  254 
"Seppuko,"  152,  155 
Sesshu,  119,  121 
"  Sevastopol,"  the,  177,  191 
Shah  Jehan,  28 
Shaho,  the,  205 
Sheffield  riots,  the,  10 
Shiba,  the  temples  of,  137 
Shibusawa,  Mr.,  274 
Shimonoseki,  straits  of,  159,  259 

„  treaty  of,  161 

"  Shimano  Maru,"  the,  163 
Shingon,  68 
Shi-shin-den,  the,  105 
Shinto,  79,  80 
Shintoism,  68,  72,  79 
Shoguns,  the,  105,  106 

„         history  of  the,  106,  126 
et  seq.,  147 
Shogun  lyemochi,  the,  128 
Shotoku  Taishi,  96 
"  Shujo,"  the,  277 
Siebold,  P.  F.  von,  84 


Sikandarbagh,  25 
Singapore,  51,  52-5 
"Sissoi  Veliki,"  the,  166 
Slavery,  the  abolition  of,  64 
Smith,  Mr.  Gordon,  89,  93 
Song,  a  Japanese  war,  234 
Strabo,  12,  14 
Stoessel,  General,   169,  194,  195 

218 
Submarines,  193 
"  Suburb,  the  Floating,"  65 
Suez,  12-16 

„     Canal,  the  10,  12 
Suitchen,  the  Plain  of,  201 
Sung  chu  san,  198 
Susa-no-o,  92 
"Svietlana,"  the,  166 
Swift  &  Co.,  Messrs.,  305-7 

Tailors,  Chinese,  89 

Tamari,  Rear- Admiral,  178,  180, 
191 

"Tamba  Maru,"  the,  154,  157 

Tansan  springs,  the,  94 

Taj,  the,  28,  270 

Taki,  Mr.  Sei-ichi,  122 

Taki,  Zenzaburo,  152,  153 

Takumi,  the  Lord,  133 

Teitchero,  General,  220 

Tea-planting,  48 

Tember,  General,  219 

Temples,  Japanese,  143 
„  of  Nikko,  141 
„         of  Tofukugi,  124 

Tendai,  68 

"  Tennin,"  the,  92 

Tenno,  the  Jimmo,  179 

"  Tenshi,"  the,  277 

Theatre,  a  Japanese,  86 

"Things  Japanese,"  68 

Thurston,  Rev.  H.,  261 

Thibet,  258 

Tiger  Tail  Promontory,  193 

Timsah  Lake,  12 

Todaiji,  the  temple  of,  1 10 

Togo,  Admiral,  72,,  162,  163-4, 173 

Tomitaro  Hara,  Mr.,  119 


INDEX 


351 


Tokyo,  129,  266,  271-81 
Tokugawa,  the,  107 

„         princes,  tombs  of,  141, 
146 
Toryoko,  the  poet,  148 
Torii,  263 
Tott,  Baron  de,  14 
Towers  of  Silence,  22 
Toyo-ura,  259 
Trades  unions,  10 
Troubetskoi,  Lieut.,  186 
Tsingtao,  168 
Tsumoda,  Capt.,  187 
Tsutchima,  162 

„  lighthouse  at,  167 

Tuticorin,  44 

Ueno  Park,  1 37 

Usaga,  120 

Ukujima,  island  of,  163 

"  Variag,"  the,  236 
Vaillemont,  P^re,  227 
Vedas,  the,  35,  yj 
"Vladimir  Monomach,"  the,  166 
Vladivostock,  162,  236,  237 
Voltaire,  16 

Wada  Point,  151,  154 
Wade,  Sir  T.,  65 


Waikiki,  293 

Waldorf  Astoria,  the,  310 
Wantzloeben,  M.,  26 
Watanabe,  Lieut.-Colonel,  219 
Weale,  Putnam,  64,  174,  228,  246 
Wei-hai-wei,  16S 
Willoughby,  Lieut.,  25 

„  Captain,  25-6 

Winans,  Mr.,  305-6 
Witte,  M.  de,  168 
Wontai,  186-201 
Wrestling  match,  1 14-16 
Xavier,  St.  Francis,  130,  261 

Yakko,  Sada,  87 

Yalu,  the,  240 

„      battle  of  the,  216,  233 
„      concessions  on  the,  246 

Yamaguchi,  261 

Yedo  {see  Tokyo) 
„      old,  129 

"Yellow  Peril,"  the,  61 

Yezo,  90 

Yokohama,  118-25,  281-7 

Young,  Brigham,  300 

Zarahtruschtra,  23 
Zen,  68 
Zoroaster,  23 


PLYMOUTH 

WILLIAM    BRENDON    AND   SON,    LTD. 

PRINTERS 


DS508  J4  1907 
Jerningham,  Hubert  Edward 

Henry,     1842-1914. 
From    V/est    to    East 


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